Hollow Assistance
by quenosand58
Summary: Hollows are known to be evil, soul eating monsters that are an affront to everything good in the world, Shinigami are the paragons that hunt them down for the good of all. But that's an over simplification if there ever was one. Some hollows can be good. Some Shinigami can be bad. All you need to see so is a change of pace. OP Ichigo and Gang.
1. The Chaos Begins

The simulated sun within Urahara's subterranean training grounds shone down from above, illuminating the rather desolate scenery within — and making Ichigo's newest predicament quite easy for all to see.

He had just managed to get his reiatsu back by fighting, and being beaten into the ground by Ururu, a small girl that was one of Urahara's assistants.

"Now, let's continue onto lesson two, shall we?" Urahara asked with a sardonic grin.

Ichigo looked down numbly at the chain which now swung freely from his chest — the chain which Tessai had just severed with his handaxe.

It was presumably done at Urahara's behest, given everything else the giant man did for his boss. "You… you pin-striped mother fucker! You two just killed me!"

Urahara just began fanning his face. " _Probably to conceal his shit-eating grin, the one he always has."_ Ichigo fumed.

"Now, now, no need to make a big deal out of the obvious, Kurosaki-san!" Urahara tittered. "You're far too loud, you know."

Ichigo winced as he felt a crushing pain on his shoulder blades. Tessai had taken the opportunity to sit down on top of Ichigo's back, pinning him to the earth.

"Hey, what the hell?!"

"Oh, you'll be fine!" Urahara paused to close his fan again. "Probably. Of course, your chain of fate has already begun the encroachment process, and when it reaches the end, you'll be transformed into a Hollow and then we will have to kill you-"

"WHAT!?" Ichigo screamed in dismay.

"-but hey, there's always the possibility that you'll get your Shinigami powers back!" Urahara grinned maliciously.

That had Ichigo paying attention again. " _So I'm risking becoming a hollow for a chance to get my powers back?"_

"Yes," Urahara continued blithely, "if you pass this second test, then you'll retrieve your Shinigami powers and survive to re-enter your body again! Are you ready?"

"Well, I-"

"Just kidding! I don't really care if you're ready or not!" Urahara laughed maniacally and Ichigo spluttered in pent-up rage and panic. "This is lesson two: the Shattered Shaft. GO!"

Ichigo felt his stomach drop as the ground gave way beneath him and Tessai, and they began plummeting into the newly-revealed pit below them. "GYAAAAAHHHHHH! You unbelievable bastard!"

WHAM!

Ichigo found himself waking up upon a rough stone slab, with the bitter taste of dirt on his tongue. It was the floor of the Shattered Shaft. "Ugh… that asshole… I'm gonna kill him when I get out of here…"

He spat the dirt out of his mouth and waited until his head stopped spinning. He then moved to stand up, but to his shock, he only fell forwards in surprise. Despite his efforts, Ichigo's arms didn't move with him. "My arms…? Why can't I move my arms?"

"I'm very sorry, Ichigo." Tessai's placating but firm voice rang out from where he sat, behind Ichigo. "This is Bakudo #99: Kin. And until this lesson is over, I'll be forced to put you under restraint."

"That's right, Tessai!" Urahara called out from the top of the shaft. "Now, Kurosaki-san, this is your task: you must scale the walls Shattered Shaft as you are, within three days!"

"What the hell," Ichigo cried in shock, "That's crazy! There's no way that's even possible!"

"Oh, really?" Urahara put on an affectation of confusion. "Well, that's too bad for you, then, because I see that the process of encroachment has already begun."

Ichigo looked down, and to his horror the end of the chain had begun to turn in on itself, like a perverse cannibal. " _Well, shit."_

"You have three days to get of there," Urahara stated. "Otherwise, we will have to kill you."

Ichigo swallowed harshly. He was going through this torture to gain the power to rescue Rukia, to pay her back for saving his life.

But if he didn't get out of here quickly, he'd may not see any of his friends again.

* * *

Orihime and Chad, if you would believe it, were having even more trouble during their training, at least at first.

"Come on you two." Yoruichi stated. "This shouldn't be hard. Remember the first time you used your powers."

"Easier said than done." Orihime countered. " I had barely any idea what I was doing at the time."

"Well, think about this." The cat replied. " What were you planning to do with your power?"

Orihime thought about this, going to the attack on her friend.

She thought about how her friends were hurt and how she couldn't do anything.

She thought about wanting to protect Tatsuki, like how she protected her every day.

Her hairpins faintly shined, before erupting in light.

With a glowing light, and a few pops, her fairy friends appeared.

"Guys!" Orihime cheered, elated about her successful showing of power.

"You called?" Shuno, a blond fairy with a red dress stated.

"I just wanted to see if I could call you guys out." Orihime replied.

"That's it?!" Tsubaki, an irate ninja-like fairy snapped, smacking her on the head with a surprising amount of force for something so small.

"Ow!" Orihime yelped, rubbing the spot Tsubaki hit.

"You called for us," Tsubaki snarled, wailing on her head, despite her wails of pain. "Despite not being in danger!? You little hussy! The other you wouldn't be nearly as wasteful!"

Orihime blinked in confusion, among her yelps of pain. "The other me?"

All of the fairies froze as they registered the slip-up of that secret before Shuno, in a odd reversal of roles floated up and swatted Tsubaki upside the head.

"You idiot." Shuno said waspishly.

* * *

Ichigo laid at the bottom of the shaft, trying to shut out the ache he could already feel in his chain of fate.

"I've already tried every way I can think of to climb out of here, and it's not working." Ichigo thought in dismay. "Maybe… maybe Hat-and-Clogs was lying about the true goal of this task, and trying to distract me? I can't see how climbing out would repair my chain of fate."

"But what would repair my chain of fate and restore my powers, then?" He thought.

Ichigo did his best to get comfortable, taking a seated pose, and closed his eyes to mull it over.

"King..."

Ichigo jumped, looking around blindly for the source of the voice he heard, only flinch as his chain started to eat itself again.

"Well, lookee here." Jinta said.

Ichigo saw the boy, holding a plate of food. "What are you doing here?"

"Just making sure you get your meal," Jinta said casually. "You know, before we have to kil you."

"Unlikely," Ichigo snapped. "My chain still has a few links in it."

"Really now?" Jinta said. "You do know it's been around 70 hours, right? Most souls already hollowfy by now."

Ichigo's eye widen in panic as he registers the statement.

"One last thing," Jinta says as he climbs out. "The final encroachment is _nothing_ like the others."

Just then, the remainder of Ichigo's chains exploded into a mass of canibilizing mouths.

"Wha-" Ichigo was cut off the sudden pain in his chest as the links ate each other at a alarming rate.

"No...No!" Ichigo cried in terror and agony. "STOP! STOP IT!"

His cries were to no avail however, as his chains ate each other in to nothing as a hole where his heart should be was revealed.

The next sensation was horrific, as if his skull was melting and gushing out of his face.

He screamed as white foam erupted from his mouth, eyes, and nostrils and formed a mask on his face.

"Looks like he's going hollow after all." Jinta said.

Ururu rose her fist. "It's time I rescued him."

"Hold it." Urahara stated. "Watch closely. Nothing more."

"Master Kisuke?" Ururu replied, unsure if the man was willing to let the boy go hollow.

"Normally, when a soul becomes a Hollow, it violently explodes before reforming in a hollow form, and finally forming a mask." Urahara explains. "Kurosaki is the opposite, with his mask being the first step of the hollowfication which shows that he's still resisting and can still become a Shinigami."

Ichigo's pain met it's peak as agony shot through his entire body.

Despite the pain however, he was still able to hear a voice.

"Can ya hear me, King?"

* * *

Ichigo woke up, gasping frantically where he laid.

When Ichigo was capable of getting he took a look at his surroundings, seeing he was on top of a large sideways skyscraper.

"What the hell is this place?" Ichigo wondered.

"Can't you recognize your own spirit world, King" A voice mocked from behind him.

"That's the voice I've been hearing!" Ichigo thought in shock, looking behind him to see something shocking.

It was him.

A pale white version of him in color-flipped shinigami clothes.

"Who are you?" Ichigo asked.

"Really Ichigo?" The other Ichigo looked at him as if he asked a stupid question. "It's me! ▪️▪️▪️▪️▪️▪️▪️▪️!

Ichigo frowned. "I couldn't get out his name."

The other Ichigo frowned too. "You _still_ can't hear me? What does it take to get through that thick skull of yours?"

Before Ichigo could offer a rebuttal to this, the ground started to shake and both the Ichigos started to fall.

"Looks like you're running out of time." The white Ichigo stated. "Unless you want to go hollow, you'd better find me, and quickly!"

"Wait, aren't you right here?!" Ichigo said in confusion and panic.

"No, you idiot!" White Ichigo said. "I meant 'me'! My zanpakto! Your Zanpakto!"

"My zanpakto?" Ichigo gasped. "What are you talking about? Byakuya destroyed my Shinigami powers!"

"Byakuya destroyed the power you got from Rukia." The white Ichigo objected. "You still have Shinigami powers of your own, dumbass! Remember how you were able to get out of Rukia's Bakudo spell even before you got her powers? No ordinary human could have done that on there own! What other explanation could there be?!"

"Well how do I find it?" Ichigo asked.

"The boxes raining down!" The white Ichigo yelled. "Find the one with Shinigami powers!"

That was the last thing Ichigo heard before he hit the water.

"Hope he finds it." The white Ichigo said, a mild amount of concern on his face. "In most situations, I'd just take over, but I don't like my chances with that hat-and-clogs bastard."

* * *

"Who is this other me?" Orihime asked, wanting to know more about her powers.

"The other you is the true source of the powers living in your soul." Ayame said.

"We are merely the representations of that power." Hinagiku added.

"But she is also the most wild and untamed interpretation of your thoughts and emotions." Baigon stated.

"You weren't supposed to know about her until you got a grasp on this power." Shuno said, giving Tsubaki the stink eye.

"In my defense," Tsubaki growled. "She needs to be able to fend for herself, and she simply doesn't have the will to hurt, let alone what 'she' could do!"

"But I'm a pacifist!" Orihime protested. "I don't like hurting people!"

"And that's the problem!" Tsubaki said. "Your power increases in proportion to your resolve, but you're too forgiving! It took your best friend nearly being killed in front of you to use me in a way that wouldn't get you flat out killed against someone component."

"I'd rather not admit it, but Tsubaki's right." Shuno admitted. "Your pacifistic nature, while great in most cases, is not something very helpful in battle."

Orihime frowned, knowing well that her powers more restricted to healing and blocking at the moment.

"You were capable of causing harm to save your friends weren't you?" Yoruichi said, making her eyes widen in surprise, before narrowing in determination.

"I'll have to just see this other me then!" Orihime said.

"Are you sure Orihime?" Chad questioned, concern on his face. "This other you seems pretty scary."

"Yes I am." Orihime said. "I don't want to be left in the dust by my friends. I want to fight along side them."

"To fight along side them..." Chad suddenly remembered his promise to Ichigo, to fight anything that came their way along side each other.

"I made a promise," He thought deeply. "And I'm want to keep it!"

A glow covered his right arm, and when the glow subsided, the same black armor with red lines that saved his and Karin's lives covered his arm.

"I...I did it!" Chad exclaimed.

"Good." Yoruichi said. "Now it's time for your training. Orihime, can you handle yourself while we go out?"

"Yeah, I plan to." Orihime said with a grin. "Good joke by the way."

Youruichi blinked as he processed the fact that Orihime was quite literally planning to handle herself in a moment.

"Oh wow." Yoruchi said with a chuckle as they left. "I didn't mean that joke at all."

"Okay guys," Orihime asked. "How do I call the other me out?"

"That's the tricky part." Ayame said. "You can't."

"Huh?"

"Your other self, Shun Shun Rikka, is unable to come out in the real world without switching places with you." Shuno said. "Your reaitsu isn't developed enough."

"How do I talk to her then?" Orihime asked.

"You must go inside your spirit world," Tsubaki stated. "And confront her there!"

"A warning first," Shuno said cautiously. "She may attack you if you aren't careful."

"What?! Why!?" Orihime exclaimed in shock. She was aware that her other self was wilder than herself, but she couldn't possibly have any reason to harm herself!

"You are aware of your devotion to Ichigo, right?" Shuno said.

Orihime nodded with a blush.

"Well, so is she." Tsubaki stated. "If you give any indication that you won't be able to help him, Shun Shun Rikka might try to subdue you and take your body by force."

Orihime swallowed, she knew training was going to be hard, but losing her body to another version of herself sounded rather frightening.

"Do you still wish to continue?" Shuno asked.

It only took a moment before she steeled herself. "Yes I do."

This fairies looked somewhat surprised before steeling themselves as well.

"Okay," Ayame said. "Close your eyes."

Orihime obliged as the fairies reverted back to hairpins.

"You might want to brace yourself." Tsubaki added.

"Wait. Brace myself for whaaaaaaaat!" Orihime's question was drowned out by her scream of surprise and alarm as felt her mind get dragged into itself, the sensation, while not painful, was incredibly overwhelming.

And then it was over, and Orihime found herself on all fours, panting on the ground.

When she got up, she instantly realized she wasn't in the store anymore.

Rather, she was right infront of an enormous castle that seemed to reach the very heavens themselves.

"Is this..." Orihime gaped. "My spirit world?"

"Yes it is." A familiar voice stated.

Orihime jumped and looked behind her to see her fairies.

Only they were a normal size.

* * *

Just like his double had said, he was surrounded by hundreds of indistinguishable white boxes.

 _"How am I supposed to find my power in one box out of all of this?" He thought. "There has to be some kind of trick to it…"_

Uryuu's words from long ago came back to Ichigo. " _Yes…" A smirk appeared on his face. "He said that Shinigami power is distinguished by red-colored spiritual ribbons!"_

Ichigo did his best to focus his senses and call forth the spiritual ribbons of the boxes around him.

" _Come on, where is it… there!"_ Ichigo caught a glimpse of red out of the corner of his eye and immediately began swimming towards it, grabbing the end of the ribbon and following it through the water.

In moments, he came to the box on the other end, and he opened it immediately, revealing the hilt of a Zanpakuto.

"Nice one King!" The white Ichigo praised, appearing right behind him. "You found me easier than I Thought. Hopefully, you'll hear my name soon."

Ichigo grinned and pulled out the sword.

* * *

Ichigo roared, destroying the bondage and bolts restraining him and blowing away the sealing cube crashing down on him.

Acting on pure Instinct, he jumped to the top of the shattered shaft and landed with a crash.

"Hey Carrot-Top!" He heard a voice. "If you're alive, answer me!"

He looked at the source of the voice, seeing Jinta, Ururu, and Urahara looking at him.

"Hollow mask and Shinigami robes," Jinta stated. "Is he Hollow or Shinigami?"

It's about at this time Ichigo realized he still had the mask on.

He grabbed the mask and took it off, revealing his face.

"Looks like you managed to avoid going hollow," Urahara said with a smirk. "And become a Shinigami again! Well done!"

"Shut up!" Ichigo snapped, unsheathing his blade, or rather what's left of it, and whacking him with the hilt.

"Betcha didn't think I'd get out alive did you?!" He snarled. "I swore to myself that if I managed to get out of that hole, I'd kill you the chance that I'd get!"

"Good then." Urahara said with a smug grin that only enraged Ichigo further. "Guess we can get to lesson three quickly. All you have to do is knock my hat off my head!"

Unsurprisingly, Ichigo immediately charged Urahara with a swing of his sword, the slash carrying winds that were felt by Jinta and Ururu a few feet away.

"Woah." Jinta said.

"Pretty good! I didn't think that you could make a slash like that with your sword in that state." He slowly withdrew a sword from the inside of his cane. "I guess I'll have to see just how you much you can do."

Ichigo smirked, drawing reaitsu to his sword. "Bring it!"

* * *

Orihime looked around to see her world. "This place is beautiful."

"It sure is." Ayame agreed.

"We didn't come here to sight see!" Tsubaki snapped "We have shit to do here!"

"Oh come now Tsubaki." Shuno scolded. "We won't get anywhere rushing her."

"So where's Shun Shun Rikka?" Orihime asked.

All of the faries paused. "I'm not really sure." Shuno said. "She's usually close by when we get called back."

"But haven't I only used you once?" Orihime asked. "What if that not always the case?"

"Good point." Baigon replied. "Well no time like the present."

Baigon lifted Orihime up onto his shoulder and started to walk toward the castle, the others trailing behind him.

"Why thank you Baigon." Orihime said.

"Don't it mention it." Baigon replied.

Orihime and her faries walked around the castle, going up floor after floor to find Shun Shun Rikka with little success.

By the time they got to the top, Orihime was really confused.

Said top floor was an room shaped like her bedroom, only blown up to an enormous size.

Her bed was king sized, windows adorned the place from all sides, and a throne sat on top of a stair case.

"Where is she?" Orihime thought. "Do you guys think she's okay?"

"Yes." Hinagiku stated. "There's nothing that could of happened that would impact this world, by extension us, negatively."

"Are you sure?" Orihime said, her concern for the missing part of herself apparent.

"She's part of your soul." Lily assured her. "I think you'd know if she weren't."

Orihime still wanted to see her other self though, and looked out one of the windows for any sign of anyone.

She didn't see anyone.

"What now?" Orihime asked.

"I honestly have no idea." Tsubaki said. "This wasn't supposed to happen. It's not like she's shy or anything."

"Perhaps you simply aren't ready to meet your other self yet." Lily suggested.

For a few seconds, Orihime said nothing. "I'm not ready? Do I still not have the resolve yet?"

"Maybe it's that." Hinagiku stated. "Have no worry. We can still train the normal way."

Orihime nodded, albeit still somewhat disappointed by this development.

"First, let's go somewhere with less stuff to break." Baigon stated.

"Right." Orihime said. "Wait, I have an idea!"

Orihime went to a particularly large window, big enough for multiple grown men to jump out of. "Baigon! Hinagiku! Lily! Santen Kesshun! I reject!"

A large shield came out of three fairies.

"Orihime?" Baigon asked. "What are you doing?"

"I'm using your shield to float down out the window." Orihime answered.

"You're using our powers for that!?" Tsubaki said in outrage. "You little hussy!"

Orihime squeaked and ran behind the shield. "Wait! You guys need me to train with our powers right? Then using them a lot would help that!"

"She's got you there" Shuno said, riding on the shield.

Ayame and Lily quickly get on too, along with Orihime.

"...Fine." Tsubaki stomps on the shield, and they all float down out of the castle.

* * *

Ichigo's stump of a sword clashed with Urahara's cane blade as the two combatants glared at each other.

"Why is he using that cane sword?" Ichigo thought. "I'd thought the bastard would try to slice me open with his zanpakuto by now-"

"Glrk!" With little to no warning, Urahara's cane blade suddenly cut though Ichigo's blade like butter and scored a big hit on his shoulder.

"Fuck!" Ichigo yelped in pain. "What the-"

"Did you seriously think I'd attack you with a normal blade?" Urahara questioned, his face uncharacteristically grim.

Ichigo grimaced as he saw Urahara walk towards him, sword in hand.

Yet what drew his attention was the fact that the sword was shivering, in a manner that clearly wasn't Kisuke.

"That's your zanpakuto?!" Ichigo said in shock. "But it doesn't look like any sealed zanpakuto I've seen. And you pulled it out your cane!"

"I'm...somewhat used to modifying souls and others things to an extent." Urahara stated. "Making my zanpakuto unassuming is child's play."

Ichigo scowled as he narrowly dodged the blade before trying to counter with his.

Only for it to be blocked by the cane sword again,

"Right." Urahara smirked. "I believe it's time to start lesson three in earnest. Awaken, Benehime!"

"Finally!" Ichigo stumbled as a women's voice traveled from the sword into his.

Unfortunately, that distraction cost Ichigo dearly as Urahara's blade morphed into a vicious black sword with red string declarations and a glowing red aura.

Ichigo had just enough time to see the aura contort into a smile before Benehime cut through the rest of his sword and deeply into his other shoulder.

Ichigo jumped back, clutching his shoulder and wielding nothing more than a hilt and a guard.

"This is the finest blood you've ever given me dear." Benehime said to her wielder. "Can we play with him a little more?"

"I'm afraid we'll have to do so another time," Urahara stated. "We don't has a lot of time at the moment.".

"Phooey." She replied.

Ichigo on the other hand, was having flashbacks to his fight with Renji.

"Zanpakutos have names?" Ichigo asked.

"Right." Urahara answered. "When a soul reaper wishes to use the power of their zanpakuto, they say a release phrase and then call it's name."

"So that's why your sword cut through mine." Ichigo said.

"That's not the only reason." Urahara said. "Your sword isn't a real zanpakuto."

"Huh?" Ichigo blinked in shock.

"Your power didn't come back entirely." Urahara lectured. "What you held was merely your reaitsu molded into the shape of a blade. It had size and shape, but no internal strength. Even Benehime couldn't cut an actual zanpakuto into just the hilt so easily."

Benehime pulsed irritably. "...That's not to understate its power or anything." Urahara added a bit too quickly.

Ichigo would've enjoyed seeing the pin-striped bastard showing something close to fear considering the various crap he had his thrown his way and multiples attempts on his life, but he was still trying to find out how was he going to last another second against the tricky Soul Reaper with his sword destroyed.

"You could still try to take off my hat with that hilt," Urahara growled. "But if you try to do so, your willpower and luck won't stop us from killing you."

The red aura from his sword slowly traveled up the man's body, as if he was being covered in a haze of blood.

Most terrifying however, was the thin outline of a women covered in blood on Benehime's edge.

Ichigo ran for his life, not wanting to see what the blade was going to do.

However, Urahara easily caught up to him and slashed him all over.

"Damn it!" He thought. "Is this all power I can muster? I can't do anything like this! This is pathetic!"

"Come on King." A familiar voice rang out. "You have no business giving up without calling my name!"

The world around him seemed to slow to a crawl, even Urahara's pursuit of Ichigo stopped.

"Quit being scared..." The white Ichigo said, suddenly appearing next to him. "And start getting pissed."

"You..." Ichigo said in shock.

"Just say my name..and watch the fireworks." The albino doppelgänger said with a smirk.

Confidence suddenly flowed through Ichigo from the hilt he still carried.

He knew what he had to do.

Urahara watched as Ichigo suddenly stopped in the middle of his retreat.

"He stopped." Jinta said. "What's going on?"

"Running is for cowards."

Ichigo turned to Urahara.

"Fear is for weaklings."

His grip tightened on this hilt.

"NOW SHOUT OUT MY NAME!"

"Tear the sky asunder, ZANGETSU!"

An explosion of reiatsu came from Ichigo, rushing towards Urahara.

A swing of Benehime stopped the blast in its tracks, but he still had to grab his hat to keep it from flying away.

When Ichigo was revealed, the hilt he held had transformed into what appeared to be a giant meat cleaver with cloth wrapped around the handle.

"What kinda zanpakuto is that?" Jinta asked in gob smacked dumbfoundment. "There's no hilt or guard on it, and it isn't even shaped like a normal sword. I think his last sword looked better to me."

"I heard that, you little shit!" Zangetsu snapped, making everyone jump in shock. "After I'm done with this jackass, you're next!"

"Huh." Urahara said, impressed. "Even the Zanpakutos of captain class reapers get tired after raising their voices to a point where people other than their wielders can hear them. Yet that blade could do so the first time it was released."

"Hey Hat-and-Clogs!" Ichigo yelled. "I think it's payback time!"

Ichigo raised his arm, unconsciously blasting off the seals on it as he gathered his reiatsu to his blade.

Urahara paled as he felt the amount of reiatsu being packed in that blade.

"Oh shit." Benehime said.

"SCREAM, BENEHIME!" Urahara roared, as Ichigo swung his sword.

BOOM!

An explosion comparable to a missile hit rocked the area, as Tessai covered the kids from the shockwave.

After a few seconds, Jinta got up to see the damage.

"Wow." Urahara stated. "I Didn't think you would be able to do something like that with just one swing of your sword."

It was at this point that Jinta realized that his hat was gone.

It took a second after that to realize that most of the place had obliterated, as if a natural disaster had happened.

Urahara raised Benehime, to see that sword was cracked.

It wasn't a very big crack, and something any Shinigami of moderate competence could fix with ease.

But to damage his sword was an achievement only two other people accomplished.

"You are one scary kid." Urahara admitted, looking at that teenager sleeping on his sword, clearly overtaxed by his insane feat. "Lesson three cleared."

* * *

"Tsubaki! Koten Zasshun! I reject!"

Tsubaki tore through the air, cutting the various plates found in the castle in half.

"Ayame! Shuno! Sōten Kisshun! I reject!"

And just like that, the plates were back to normal.

Orihime gasped and on to her backside as she ran out of reiatsu.

"Get up." Tsubaki stated. "We have no time for dawdling."

"Sorry." Orihime gasped. "Feel. Really. Tired."

"You sure you can go on?" Shuno asked.

"Yeah." Orihime said, breath coming back to her. "Just. Give me. A minute."

She was really tired, but Rukia needed her and Ichigo, and there would be no way that she let her get hurt cause she wasn't trying hard enough.

Then a question came to her, something that nagged at her hard. "Uh Guys?"

"What is it Orihime?" Ayame asked.

"I'm low on reiatsu right?" Orihime asked.

"Yes."

"But if this is my spirit world, where does it go?" Orihime asked.

"Well," Tsubaki says. "It simply disperses inside you."

"Reiatsu used in the Inner world isn't really used." Hinagiku added. "As a result, you recover it much faster than in the outside world."

"That explains why I can do so much here," Orihime said. "But fainted after one use of each shield saving Tatsuki."

"Enough talk!" Tsubaki stated. "You still want to go on right?"

"Yes!" Orihime said, eyes filled with determination.

"Well, let's go!" Lily stated.

"Right! Baigon! Hinagiku! Lily! Santen Kesshun! I reject!"

"Tsubaki! Koten Zasshun!"


	2. To Soul Society

Next day.

Clang!

Benehime and Zangetsu clashed, creating a shockwave that Jinta, Tessai, and Ururu felt meters away.

"You're holding up really well." Urahara stated. "But I think you could do better."

Benehime suddenly erupted in red energy, spearing out at Ichigo.

Ichigo was only barely dodge out of the way of the attack as it grazed his neck, almost cutting a major artery.

"Gah!" He roared as he stumbled back and held a hand to his neck to slow down the bleeding.

"Fuck!" Zangetsu growled. "Get in the game, King!"

"Ah..." Benehime moaned. "His blood is sooo good."

"Calm down Benehime." Urahara casually admonished. "We can't kill him."

"You dick!" Ichigo roared. "You could've killed me!"

"That's the point." Urahara said. "One's reaitsu increases greatly when in mortal peril."

Urahara rushed at Ichigo again, who raised Zangetsu in a blocking position.

Clang!

Another shockwave rocked the area.

Ichigo, now wary of Benehime's power, fed as much reaitsu to Zangetsu as possible and tried to fire it off like he did yesterday.

Benehime fired her load at the same time, creating a dark red explosion that launched the combatants.

Urahara managed to land on his feet, though he fell to his knee to catch his breath for a second.

Ichigo definitely landed harder, crashing on his back, and stumbling back on his feet just in time to dodge another slash.

"How disappointing." Urahara sighed.

"Huh?" Ichigo blinked.

"Your sword is ready to fight, but the wielder is full of fright." Urahara lectured. "When you attack, you fear killing. When you counter, you fear being killed. When you protect, you fear letting them die. Such fear has no place in the battlefield."

A surge of reaitsu flowed from Urahara, tinted red with bloodlust.

"And fear's not what you need in a fight. What you need is resolve. When you counter, you don't get cut. When you protect, you don't let them die. When you attack, you kill."

"I-Is that it?" Ichigo thought. "Is resolve what I need?"

Zangetsu offered no answer.

Ichigo looked at the monstrous reaitsu Urahara was emitting.

This was insane. This was beyond anything he had fought before.

"This was what I need to beat to save Rukia." He thought.

Ichigo's eyes glowed as his grip on Zangetsu tightened.

Black reaitsu flowed out of Ichigo at a alarming rate as he glared at Urahara.

"Done freaking out?" Zangetsu said.

"Yeah." Ichigo says. "Let's do this."

"My word." Tessai stated in awe. "It's as if their swords are crying out for battle."

Ichigo and Urahara glared at each other, their blades glowing with resolve and reaitsu.

They charged.

They swung.

BOOM!

A explosion bigger than anything else before rocked the area.

When the dust cleared, a giant X was blown into the landscape.

Ichigo panted, seeing the destruction they made with that swing.

"And there is your resolve." Urahara stated. "As long as you have that, your're set! And we still have around 6 days to make you even stronger! You ready for hell?"

"Do I have a choice?" Ichigo snarked with a shit-eating grin reminiscent of Urahara himself.

Zangetsu grinned. This was going to be fun.

* * *

"Koten Zanshun!"

A boomerang shaped blade cut through the air, and where Yoruichi was a second ago.

Crash!

Chad crashed down, his fist smashing into the pavement, and leaving a small crater.

"Huh." Yoruichi blinked. "You almost hit me that time."

"How are you so fast?!" Orihime wailed in exasperation.

"Training." Yoruichi stated simply. "Why do you think we've been doing this for so long?"

Chad gasped for breath, exhausted by chasing Yoruichi across the forest all day.

Despite their exhaustion, Yoruichi was surprised by their growth.

At first, they had trouble simply bringing their power out, now they could use for hours on end with little more than fatigue.

Still, they needed more than stamina to take on the Soul Society.

"Are you ready to continue?" Yoruichi stated.

They both nodded.

"Well then..." A smug tone leaked into his voice as he ran. "Catch me if you can!"

Chad and Orihime sighed, chasing after him with great speed, throwing attacks every chance they got.

But Yoruichi nimbly dodged them all and kept well ahead of them.

Orihime scowled, before an idea popped into her head.

"Chad!" Orihime called out. "I have an idea! Head out to the left!"

"Kay." Chad obliged, rushing to try and catch with Yoruichi.

While he did, Orihime sent out Baigon, Hinagiku, and Lily, but didn't use the shield yet.

The fairies blurred past Yoruichi, using the foliage to hide.

Orihime knew her fairies were faster than Yoruichi even if she wasn't.

The main reason she hadn't caught him was Yoruichi was nimble enough to evade it even with Tsubaki's speed.

However if this plan worked...

Chad was in position, and so were the faeries.

"Now!" Orihime cried out. " Koten Zanshun!"

At the same time, Chad released a full force energy blast from his fist.

Yoruichi smirked as he found himself in a pincer technique. "Good. They're starting to plan ahead-"

"Santen Kesshun!"

A golden shield suddenly popped up right in front of Youruichi, blocking his path.

Boom!

A shockwave blew through out the forest.

"It worked! It worked!" Orihime squealed in mingled shock and triumph. "I can't believe it – my plan actually –"

"Did it?"

Flump!

Orihime squawked as Youruichi landed on her head.

Chad blinked. "How?"

"You two did well." Yoruichi complimented. "But it will be a long time before you can catch me."

Orihime looked crushed. "I thought I had you there."

Chad tried to comfort her. "Hey, it was a good plan."

"You could say that again." Yoruichi agreed. "If I hadn't sensed the fairies in the forest, you might've scratched me a bit."

Orihime smiled at that. "Should we go again?" She asked.

"No." Yoruichi said simply. "Your reaitsu feels low, go home and we'll do this again tomorrow."

Orihime stumbled as a wave of exhaustion hit her. "Wow, we been going at this for a while."

Chad quickly grabbed Orihime when it looked like she would hit the floor.

"You okay?" Chad asked.

"Fine." Orihime said. "Just exhausted."

Yoruichi started walking off. "Be here tomorrow."

"Kay." Orihime stated, heading off with Chad.

* * *

A few days later.

The rescue mission was finally at hand, Orihime, Chad, and Uryuu had decided to come to help, and now they were standing with Ichigo in front of a giant gate by the name of senkeimon.

"This gate," Urahara pointed at the square shaped thing behind him, "has a spirit particle conversion machine on the top of it. The two are attached by covering the gate with union tags."

"The Soul Society is a world of spirits. Therefore, you cannot enter it without being spirits yourselves." Yoruichi continued. "However, Kurosaki-kun here is the only one able to leave his body and become a Soul Reaper. The rest of you still retain your physical forms when you draw out your powers."

"That's where this comes in!" Urahara explained playfully. "It converts the physical matter of this world into spiritual matter!"

"So we'll be able to cross without dying then?" Uryuu stated.

"Right. However, there's a problem." Urahara continued, settling into a grim tone. "You'll find yourself in a place called the Dangai, the bridge between the World of the Living and the Soul Society. You're going to have perhaps four minutes to cross the Dangai, and if you don't get to the other side in time, the Senkaimon will close and leave you locked inside forever."

"And how do we stop that from happening?" Ichigo questioned.

"By walking forward." Yoruichi said simply. "However, only those with confidence can come."

"Well that's no problem!" Orihime said. "We wouldn't have gotten this far without confidence."

"Even though you know that if you fail to clear the Dangai, you will never go home again?"

"That just means that we can't fail." Chad stated.

"We won't fail." Ichigo hissed.

"You heard them!" Zangetsu laughed, surprising everyone who had not known zanpakuto were sentient. "Now open the gate."

"Heh." The cat almost seemed to smile. "Very well said. Kisuke, we're ready."

Urahara snapped his fingers once more, and the Senkaimon opened.

* * *

"Damn, the Dangai is a truly gloomy place, isn't it?" Ichigo reflected.

Dark, murky water flowed all about, and there was only a narrow strip of dry land from where they were standing to the other side of the Dangai.

"Let's move." Yoruichi rushed forward as everyone followed.

A loud splashing sound could be heard behind them, and it only took a look to see the Kouryuu heading toward them.

A part of the wall crashed down, creating a huge splash of the Kouryuu, some of which splashed onto Uryuu and his cape. "What? I'm stuck!"

"You idiot, it's because of your damn clothes!" Ichigo hoisted Zangetsu and flashed into action, trying to cut the cape off.

"Wait, if you touch the Kouryuu with your Zanpakuto, it will get stuck too!" Yoruichi yelled.

"Just rip them off!" Zangetsu roared.

"I'm trying!" Uryuu snapped, tugging at the cape.

Chad turns to help Uryuu and Ichigo.

They managed to tear them thing just as a black mass erupted from the waters, with glowing lights.

"The Kototsu!" Yoruichi cursed. "RUN!"

Everyone ran for their lives, using their reaitsu to boost their legs.

However, the Kototsu got closer and closer.

"Shit." Yoruichi hissed as the Kototsu almost towered over them.

"We won't make it!" Uryuu shouted.

And then Orihime turned and faced it.

Ichigo and Yoruichi didn't even get a chance to call her before what happened next.

"Hinagiku, Lily, Baigon! Santen Kesshun, I reject!" Orihime cried out, calling on her Shun Shun Rikka to place a barrier in-between the motley group and the Kototsu.

Crash!

For a second, everything went white for everyone.

Then everyone hit the ground with a painful thud.

"Uuugh..." Chad groaned. "What happened."

"Heeey..." Orihime slurred, looking rather frazzled. "We're alive. Is everyone alright?"

"Yeah." Ichigo got back on his feet faster than the others.

"What were you thinking?" Youruichi hissed. "Did you not listen to a single word I said? If it had been one of your flowers that made contact with the cleaner instead of just the barrier, it would have dragged you in! You would be dead!"

"Sorry." Orihime said sadly. "I just thought we weren't going to get to the gate in time."

"If Orihime hadn't put of that shield, we all might have been killed." Ichigo protested.

"You fail to grasp the severity of the situation." Yoruichi growled.

Before the argument could continue, Uyruu interrupted.

"The dust's clearing." He said.

What they saw was a town that wouldn't look out of place in feudal Japan.

All of the buildings were only one story and they were all built out of wood and bamboo.

There was a stone foundation beneath one big house, but even that looked hand made.

The stone weren't cut to fit each other, just piled together in a way that happened to fit.

There were trees pushing their tops between the buildings, growing right up in the allies between houses.

Small stone wells were dotted here and there and the roads were hard packed dirt.

Most odd of all, however, was the lack of any life.

"So," Ichigo binked. "Yes," Yoruichi-sensei said. "This is the slum district, more commonly known as the Rukongai, where souls first arrive after a Konso, and where most souls wait to continue in their reincarnation cycle."

"However, ever since the Rukon rebellions several hundred years ago, the economy and culture of the Rukongai has taken a major downturn, and most of the souls with the potential to make a difference leave for the Seireitei, which is where the Shinigami are. Said Shinigami barely take care of this place, believing it beneath them."

"That's terrible!" Orihime exclaimed.

"Wait, prosperous like 'that'?" Ichigo asked, pointing at the giant white buildings in the distance.

Yoruichi-sensei nodded. "Yes, that is-"

He didn't get any further than that. Ichigo took off sprinting, his gigantic sword thumping on his back with each step.

The other teens, not wanting to be left behind, immediately ran after him.

"Wait! Stop!" Yoruichi criied out. "You idiots! You can't just barge in! You'll be killed!"

"Killed?" Chad thought. "By wha-"

His thoughts were interrupted by a colossal _thud_ as numerous stone walls began to materialize and fall out of the sky, landing in-between the teens and his destination.

The resulting shockwaves and clouds of dust all but knocked everyone down, and completely obscured them from the view of Yoruichi.

"What now?" Uryuu asked in exsaperation.

"Hah!" a deep and resonant voice droned. "It's been a very, very long time since anyone's had the guts to try and get through the White Road Gate without the proper pass. Now I finally have something to do! I've gotta thank you all."

"Oooh!" Zangetsu grinned. "Our first fight! Get ready!"

Ichigo steeled himself as the dust cleared, only faltering slightly when he saw a pair of kneecaps.

He gulped as he looked up at the speaker, a massive giant wearing a fez and wielding an equally-massive handaxe.

"My name is Jidnabo, gatekeeper of the Seireitei! Now, show me who's first!" He boomed.

Ichigo grabbed Zangetsu, black reaitsu already radiating off it.

Uryuu made a Quincy bow, and notched an arrow on it.

Chad's armor crawled up his arm, and opened at his shoulder.

Orihime placed her hands on her earrings, ready to fire them off at a moment's notice.

"You people have terrible manners." Jidanbo taunted. "You must be from the country. Listen, cities have rules. Wash your hands before you eat, say thank you when given courtesy, and all duels must be one-on-one."

"Hey, everybody! Don't do anything, okay?" Ichigo asked. "I want to try this on my own!"

They immediately began to protest.

"Why, Kurosaki-kun?" Orihime asked. "We'd fight better together!"

"Yeah, idiot. Quit acting tough!" Uryuu snapped.

"Gee." Zangetsu snarked. "Great faith these guys have in you."

Before anymore arguing could be made, the giant swung down his axe on Ichigo.

Unfazed, the substitute shinigami raised his blade and stopped the axe cold.

Everyone blinked at the casual ease Ichigo had blocking the massive weapon.

"Guys, calm down." Ichigo said simply. "I think I got this guy."

The others obliged.

Jidanbo laughed. "I can't remember the last time someone was able to stop the swing of my axe. Only two people have attempted to barge in and have stopped my first thrust."

"However," Jidanbo gloated. "Nobody has stopped the SECOND!"

Jidanbo swung his axe, once again doing jack diddly to Ichigo or Zangetsu.

Jidanbo scowled. "Jidan 10-strike festival!"

He swung his axe like a madman, hacking away at Ichigo without mercy.

And yet, none of of his swings so much as dented Zangetsu.

"You done?" Ichigo asked.

"No! I still have another axe!" He pulled out a second handaxe from within his shihakusho and prepared to strike.

However, Ichigo was tired of this and readied his blade to strike.

"Sorry pal," Ichigo stated. "but I'm Gonna Kick Your Axe."

That was all the warning anyone got before Zangetsu cut through the blades like butter, creating a blast that sent Jidanbo flying into the gate.

"My axes!" Jidanbo cried out. "How could you?!"

The giant seemed on the verge of tears.

"Well, what did you expect?" Ichigo drawled, his sword hand was still holding firmly onto the handle of his zanpakutou "You tried to kill me with them. Did you think I'd just lie down and take it?"

"Technically, you were just taking it for a bit." Chad argued. "It just didn't do anything to you."

"...Touché." Ichigo admitted.

Whatever eggshell thin mask of maturity Jidanbo had managed to hold up for that long finally crumbled and the giant started bawling.

"Awk!" Ichigo yelped as a tear bigger than his body almost crashed down on him.

"Oh come on!" Zangetsu whined. "Our first fight after you get my name and we get this?"

"Wait no!" Orihime yelped, her inability to see people in tears coming out in full force. "Don't cry! I can fix your axes!"

Jidanbo looked at Orihime in shock. "You can?"

"If you let us through, I'd be glad to!" Orihime chriped.

"Th-Thank you!" He cried, gathering the pieces of his blades.

"Orihime," Uryuu asked. "Are you sure that's a good idea?"

"I don't think any of us could jump over that gate." Orihime stated. "Plus, I think he knows Kurosaki-kun can't be stopped."

One Sōten Kisshun later, the axes were as good as new.

Jidanbo was estatic. "You're so nice! Here I am, crying like a baby, and even though your friend trounced me, you still care about me! You're so kind and caring!"

Orihime smiled at the compliment.

"And I'm a man of my word!" Jidanbo stated. "I'll let you all pass!"

He proceeded to turn and lift the gateway for the gang.

Yoruichi frowned. "There's someone else on the other side."

Everyone tensed, looking for the person as Jidando raised the gate.

"There he is." Chad pointed.

On the other side of the gate stood a lean man with pale skin, light silvery-purple hair, and a disturbing grin on his face.

To Ichigo's concern, he was also wearing the same outfit as Byakuya.

"Oh no!" Jidanbo gasped. "It's Gin Ichimaru, the Captain of Squad Three!"

It seems there's been a miscommunication, Jidanbo. Opening the gate for ryoka..." Gin said lightly. "is something we don't allow." Gin's reaitsu spiked.

"Oh shit." Ichigo thought, raising his sword and feeding it reaitsu for whatever insane attack this guy would pull.

"Santen Kesshun!" Orihime cried, her faeries flying toward Ichigo to shield him.

However, they weren't fast enough.

"Shoot to kill, Shinso!"

Gin drew his sword, and everyone watched as, with inhumanly fast movements, the man thrust his blade, causing it to extend at a insane speed.

Before the pixies even made it to Ichigo, the sword slammed into Zangetsu with great force, drawing a pained roar from the Zanpakuto.

A shockwave knocked Orihime, Chad, and Uryuu back as the blade - Shinso - sent Ichigo and Jidanbo flying back at near comical speeds.

"Chiao." Gin smirked as the wall came tumbling back down.

"Ow." Ichigo thought as he registered what happened.

"Shit!" Zangetsu roared. "That bastard cracked me!"

Ichigo's eyes widened as he got up and looked at his blade, and sure enough, it was cracked.

Not just cracked, but had huge spiderweb like fractures across the entire blade.

"Zangetsu!" Ichigo cried. "Are you all right?!"

"I've been better." The sword moaned. "Do me a favor and get me some reaitsu, will ya?"

Ichigo obliged, pouring his reaitsu into the cracks and watching them disappear.

"That could've gone better." Chad groaned.

"You could say that again." Yoruichi stated. "To think a Captain would be right outside the gate."

"Yoruichi?" Orihime asked. "I don't suppose you have a plan B?"

"I do." Yoruichi said simply. "We're going to Kuukaku Shiba."

* * *

The next few hours had been merely asking around for the whereabouts of this Kuukaka.

The people of the Rukon district were somewhat standoffish to the ryoka, on account of being illegal transports in a sense.

Despite this only one was outright hostile.

A particularly loud mouthed guy that starting fighting Ichigo when he noticed his robes, apparently expressing the same hatred of shinigami that Ishida had.

"What the hell is a soul reaper doing here?" Ganju snapped, pointing at Ichigo.

The man quickly got in Ichigo's face and glared at him without a shred of fear, despite the reaitsu Ichigo emitted to scare him off.

"Speak up! What's a…"

He had begun lightly slapping Ichigo's face.

"Stinking Soul Reaper doing here?"

The two glared at each other.

"I asked you a question you-"

Wham!

Ichigo's punch caught Ganju flat in kisser and actually lifted the man off his feet, hurtling him through the doorway he had crashed through a minute earlier.

Ganju rolled up to his feet and slapped one hand over his aggrieved injury. "Ow! You picking a fight, dandelion head?"

"You picked the fight, you jackass! You start in on me for no reason and expect me to do nothing about it! What kind of moron are you?" Ichigo yelled.

"Ichigo!" Yoruichi snapped. "This is no time useless fights!"

"He started it!" Ichigo yelled, right before Ganju lowered his shoulder and rammed Ichigo in the solar plexus.

"Ichigo!" Orihime and Uryuu yelled at the same time.

They started to run out of the house to help, but four boars and some people riding on them cut them off from Ichigo.

"Don't mess with the boss man," said their ringleader.

"If you try to help your friend, you'll have to deal with us," said another one behind him.

Fortunately, the fight had ended rather quickly as Ichigo was able pound Ganju around rather easily when suddenly a large alarm clock strapped to one of his henchmen goes off, stopping him cold in his tracks.

Realizing the time is 9 o'clock, Ganju called his own boar and quickly withdraw with his henchmen.

"Hey!" Ichigo snapped. "Get back here coward!"

"I'm not running!" Ganju roared back. "I'll be back tomorrow to finish this!"

Ichigo scoffed. "Screw that. I have more important things to do here!"

* * *

Fortunately, they were able to find Kuukaku's whereabouts not too long after that debacle.

The team approached Kuukaku's home. It was a surprisingly imposing construction; two great stone arms held up a banner with Kuukaku's name upon it, and a massive column (a chimney?) emerged from the short and squat house.

"HOLD UP!" Two men leapt down, one each, from the pair of stone arms. They were both very tall and muscular, with pencil-thin facial hair. The only obvious difference between the two was that one of them had a deep cleft chin.

"Where do you think you're going, with those weird outfits!" the pair barked out in sequence. "We won't let suspicious types like you in, absolutely not! Now get out, before we're forced to kill you!"

"Relax, Koganehiko, Shiroganehiko." Yoruichi said in a placating tone of voice. "They're with me."

Their jaws dropped in sync. "YORUICHI-DONO!" They cried. "Please forgive us! We didn't know you were with these filthy ruffians!"

"Hey!" Ichigo snapped. "We're right here! We can hear everything you say!"

"It's my fault." Yoruichi said casually, ignoring Ichigo's shout. "I should've sent word ahead."

The guards smiled. "Such kind words from such a great person." Shiroganehiko stated.

The guards led everyone down the steps to the basement.

"Please wait here." Koganehiko stated. "We will call master Kuukaku."

He proceeded to knock on the door.

"Who is it?" A voice called out.

"Master Kuukaku!" Shiroganehiko stated. "We have guests!"

"Alright, send them in." Kuukaku responded.

Koganehiko nodded weakly. "Of course, ma'am! Right away!" He cried, before sliding open the door between their corridor and Kuukaku's room.

Kuukaku herself was lounging on a pile of pillows.

Everyone instantly became aware of one obvious fact:

"Kuukaku is a woman!?" Everyone screeched in mutual shock.

Not only a woman, but a rather roguishly beautiful one at that, even if she was missing her right arm a little below the shoulder.

Yoruichi just smirked in a self-satisfied way, as if he were in on a unique secret.

"Yoruichi, who the hell are these kids?" Kuukaku snapped.

Yoruichi stepped forward. "If you'll allow me to get to that... I need a favor, Kuukaku."

"A favor?" Kuukaku blinked. "Is it dangerous?"

"Very." Yoruichi stated with a shrug. or as much of a shrug as a cat could make.

"Good." Kuukaku gave a shit-eating grin. "I live for danger."

There isn't much to say what happened after that.

Kuukaku quickly agreed to help our cause, especially once she found out Urahara was involved.

However, she did not think we could get there on our own and called someone to help us.

Surprisingly, it was Ganju, the same boar riding guy that fought Ichigo yesterday.

Unsurprisingly, he and Ichigo immediately started fighting again.

Fortunately, Kuukaku quickly put a stop to that, by knocking them both to the ground.

"Ow!" Ganju whined. "What was that for sis?"

"My house, my rules, brat," Kukaku growled. "The Shiba family may be on hard times, but our hospitality ain't dead yet. Now show these kids the spirit cores. They're gonna need them to drop in there in one piece."

"Drop in?" Ichigo asked.

"In one piece?" Ishida asked, concern on his face. "How are we getting in the Seireitei exactly?"

* * *

A little while later.

"What is that?" Orihime asked in awe, pointing at the huge cylinder like device in the middle of the room.

Laughing, Kukaku jumped onto the platform and patted the massive cylinder fondly. "This, kiddo, is what's going to get you into the Soul Society. This is what's going to send you over the wall."

"Did she just say 'over'?" Uryuu echoed in disbelief.

"You heard me! I'm Kuukaku Shiba — and I'm the first and foremost master of fireworks in all of Soul Society!"

Uryuu gulped. "You're saying that this is some kind of launcher? A cannon?"

"That's right!" Kuukaku cackled. "This is my personal fireworks station! The Kuukaku Cannon!"

"You're firing us out of that!?" Orihime said incredulously.

"Yep," Kukaku said proudly. She then looked up at the ceiling and shouted, "Koganehiko! Shiroganehiko! Hoist us up!"

The room proceeded to shake as the servants crank the floor up.

The ceiling split open down the middle as they approached it and pulled back to slide into the walls.

"Behold!" Kuukaku roared from her pedestal. "This is Shiba Kukaku's exclusive fireworks launch pad!"

"The Flower-Crane Cannon!" Ganju announced proudly, only to get punted clear off the pedestal.

"Oi! That was my line!" Kuukaku snapped.

"Sorry!"

"You can't be serious!" Uryuu shouted. "I don't care if you're a fireworks wizard! You'll only kill us by shooting us out of tha-"

Kuukaku cut him off shortly by braining him with a heavy crystal orb, bouncing it off of his face and into Chad's hands.

"What's this?" Chad asked.

"That," Kukaku said, "is a spirit core. Press your hands against it and fill it with your spirit energy."

Chad obliged, his reaitsu flooding into the ball, which lit up and covered him in a ball.

"That is the cannonball," Kukaku said. "It's what's going to smash through the barrier around the Seireitei and let you guys in."

"What do you mean?" Ichigo asked. "Aren't we going over the walls?"

"Yeah, but those aren't the only obstacles, kid," Kukaku explained. "Those walls are made of Seki-Seki rock. It's a material that blocks spiritual energy and, since you're all made up of the stuff right now, colliding with them would definitely kill you. However, since Seki-Seki rock also emits waves that block reishi, going over or under it would kill you too. There's no going around the barrier; just through it. These will allow you to do so. Practice giving your reaitsu to them and we'll go when you're ready. Any questions?"

"Um." Orihime sheepishly raised her hand. "Is it safe?"

"If you don't fuck up." Kuukaku stated. "Now, head to the dojo and start practicing! Koganehiko, Shiroganehiko; escort the downstairs."

"Awk!" Ichigo squawked as one of the servants picked him and Uyruu up. "Lemme go!"

"And you'd all better train hard," Kukaku called after us in a parting shot. "Because if even one of you loses focus, then it'll go BOOM!"

"What? You never said that earlier!" Ichigo roared.

* * *

Focusing reaitsu was a rather simple thing for most of the gang except Ichigo.

Due to the type of training they had, which was finding and focusing their energy, Chad, Ishida, and Orihime could make a bubble rather quickly.

However, because his training was merely getting his power back and then getting strength, stamina, and experience to assist it, Ichigo had great problems at first.

"Kurosaki-san? What are you even doing?! I can't stand to look at it!" Koganehiko snapped.

"Indeed! That formation is pathetic! You have no talent!" Shiroganehiko agreed.

"Stop insulting me and give me a clue dammit!" Ichigo raged, hurling the orb at them.

Eventually, a few tips from Ganju and a near death experience later, he got the orb working.

Soon, it was time to get in the crane cannon and everyone was ready.

Ganju had decided to come along, to see why Ichigo was different from the other soul reapers he knew.

Everyone proceeded to climb in the tower, and stood in a circle with one hand from each of them holding up the crystal ball in the center and Yoruichi, who stood on top of it.

"Listen to me," Yoruichi-sensei began. "This is the last chance for talk we will have for some time, I think. So remember these things: stay together once we are inside. If you meet anyone of the captain class, those who wear a white haori, flee immediately and without question. Do not take unnecessary risks. Do not place your trust in anyone within those walls. All Soul Reapers you see from this moment on will be your enemy. Remember that we are here to rescue Rukia. They are her jailors and they will not simply let you walk out with her. Once we have secured her, we will leave immediately. I already have an escape route planned, so leave that part to me. Understood?"

"Yes," They all said. Their voices echoed in the huge, hollow tube.

From outside the cannon came the muffled sound of an incantation.

"It's starting! Combine your energies!" Yoruichi ordered.

Everyone quickly flowed and mixed their spirit energy in the orb.

An oddly fascinating sensation came to everyone as they felt each other's spirit energy.

Orihime: Bright and gentle, but with otherworldly strength.

Uryuu: Focused, calm and somehow different from the rest.

Yasutora: Tough and unyielding, like a tamed beast.

Ganju: Wild, conflicting emotions rolling together.

Ichigo: Unrefined power that eclipsed them all, yet oddly hungry.

Yoruichi: Old, yet lively. Powerful, yet subtle. Great, yet...incomplete. Form of cat, feel of...Shinigami?

"What the..." Everyone thought as they all felt Yoruuichi's odd reaitsu.

Kuukaku's indecipherable chant came to a crescendo, and with a colossal explosion, the Ryoka were blasted out of the cannon and through the sky.

"Now, to control the trajectory we need to adjust the output of our energy. I'm going to start the incantation now, so I won't have time to correct you. Just feel the amount of energy I'm putting into the ball and adjust your own accordingly. We clear?"

Everyone nodded.

Ganju immediately pulled a scroll out of his pockets and consulted it for the follow-up chant. "Fate of three birds, fate of four dragons! No road in five directions, no return in six miles!"

"Kurosaki-kun, you need to lower your power more. It's too much right now," Orihime said.

"Okay." Ichigo stated, lowering his output.

"You're still adding too much!" Uryu snapped. "You're messing up the rhythm!"

"I'm trying!" He snapped. "Zangetsu. Try sucking out my spirit energy."

"Kay." Zangetsu stated. "A little tricky to do this while you're focusing on something else."

Everyone felt Ichigo's reaitsu drop further and further, yet it still outweighed the the others.

"Ichigo," Yasutora said ominously.

"I KNOW!" Ichigo snapped. "Zangetsu! HELP!"

"I already am!" Zangetsu snapped. "There's just a lot to work with-"

"You DUMBASS!" Ganju shouted. "I READ THE SAME LINE TWICE BECAUSE OF YOU!"

"HOW IS THIS MY FAULT!" Ichigo countered.

"YOU WERE YELLING SO MUCH THAT I MESSED UP!"

"Idiots!" Uryuu snapped. "There's no time for this!"

"Guys?" Orihime stated shakily.

Everyone's eyes widened as they saw that they were coming towards the seireitei very quickly.

Too quickly to finish the chant.

"Well shit." Zangestu said simply, which summed up everyone's thoughts quite nicely.

"Everyone!" Ichigo shouted. "Pour your spirit energy in the orb! As much as you can!"

With little other options left, everyone obliged, throwing as much reaitsu in the orb as they could.

Miraculously, the orb didn't shatter from the power influx.

"Glrk!"

"What the-" Orihime's head whipped around to see Uryuu gasp as his hands started to burn. "Are you-"

"King!" Zangetsu roared, cutting her off. "SWING ME!"

Ichigo, still pouring reaitsu into the orb, focused the reaitsu Zangetsu already siphoned off from him, and swung the sword right when they hit the barrier.

* * *

For one second, all of Seireitei stopped moving.

Kenpachi had Yachiru sitting on her shoulder, both with shit-eating grins as they felt the reaitsu the meteor coming down on them was putting off.

Normally, Kenpachi couldn't sense anything for shit, but even he could feel what was coming down on them.

* * *

Aizen putting his palm on his lieutenant's, Hinamori, shoulder, feigning the horror she felt, staring at the falling star.

Inwardly, he smiled as he now felt one of his biggest experiments, come crashing down on the seireitei.

* * *

Renji would have smirked at the first time he saw his captain in shock, if he wasn't in shock himself.

He felt powerful dark energy coming towards the barrier, but it also felt uncomfortably familiar.

Just like that, they both knew that Rukia's execution might be the second worst thing to happen to them this month.

* * *

Rukia gasped, looking out her prison.

She immediately recognized the reaitsu, and looked out with horror and disbelief of multiple kinds in her eyes.

And yet, a small traitorous spark of hope lit up in her.

The hougyoku throbbed in her breast.

* * *

Shinigami all over the seireitei didn't move, even as it became painfully obvious what was coming for them all.

Shock and horror had triumphed over hope and survival instincts.

Normally, anything coming towards the seireitei would be destroyed by the barrier, but now they weren't so sure.

Finally, one spoke a question along the minds of almost every shinigami in the seireitei.

"Is that a hollo-"

 **BOOM!**

A horrific explosion shattered the barrier, lighting up the sky and sending a shockwave to rock all of the seireitei.

Glass windows were shattered, shinigami were blown off their feet, and everything went white.

In an instant, the Seki-Seki barrier was no more.


	3. War on Heaven

"Uuuuggghh..." Ganju groaned, dazed from the crash, and wondering where the hell he was.

The first thing that Ganju noticed once he regained consciousness was a crippling headache.

The second thing that he noticed once he regained consciousness was the crippling headache getting worse courtesy of someone yelling at him.

"Get up Dumbass!" A voice roared.

"What?!" He snapped, rising and glaring in the direction of the voice, a voice he recognizes as Ichigo's.

"Good, You're up." Ichigo stated. "I was worried you got hurt by the crash."

"Like hell a little fall would take me out!" Ganju roared, before noticing that they were alone. "Where did everyone go?!"

"Jeez, keep it down will ya?" Ichigo snapped. "We got flung into different directions by the shockwave. I don't know where anyone is."

"Crap," Ganju scowled, they had been relying on Yoruichi to guide them to the Senzaikyu, with the cat gone, they had no idea where to go. "What now?"

"Halt!"

"Oh great." Ichigo thought as he looked over to see two shinigami with wide grins. One was tall and bald. The other had a full head of perfectly styled hair and some weird feather looking things on his right eyebrow and eyelashes.

Ichigo readied his Zanpakuto as the odd pair walked over.

* * *

Orihime sighed, her and Uryuu laying on her Santen Kesshun. "That was close. Uryuu, are you okay?"

"N-not really." Ishida replied, looking at his burned and bleeding hands.

"Oh no!" Orihime exclaimed. "What happened?!"

"My hands got reaitsu burns." Ishida grimaced. "It happened last time I wielded Ichigo's power, it's just worse this time."

"Let me help! Sōten Kisshun!" Ayame and Shuno quickly got to work, and soon his hands were okay.

"Thank you, Orihime." Ishida practically glowed with gratitude.

"You're Welcome." Orihime smiled.

The two teens slowly floated down to the ground and took a look around.

"Looks like we got separated," Orihime started looking around. "I hope Ichigo is okay."

"He's fine." Ishida said, getting up. "For now, let's just try to find everyone."

"I could float us back up and make a bird's eye view." Orihime asked.

"Let's try that if we get spotted." Uryuu replied. "No need to blow what little cover we have left."

Orihime nodded and together they got up to find the others.

* * *

Izuru laid flat on his ass, looking up in horror at the Seki-Seki Barrier, or rather, the lack of one in the sky.

"Lieutenant Kira!" A random shinigami yelped getting up. "Are you alright?"

"...Yes." Izuru stated, getting up. "Just shaken up. Is anyone injured?"

"Doesn't seem like it." The shinigami said. "Everyone was merely knocked to the ground."

"Lieutenant Kira." Another shinigami trembled. "Was that..."

"A hollow," Kira replied. "A strong one at that."

"But it split up." The first shinigami stated. "Could there be multiple hollows in the Seireitei?"

"I'm afraid it's possible." Kira growled. "No matter, one of the lights dropped nearby. Maybe we can purify them before any damaged is done. Come."

With that, Kira and the squad he led rushed off to find the hollow.

They quickly find the landing spot, only to see a large crater with no hollow in sight.

Izuru scowled. "Spread out! Go into teams of three and call everyone else if you find them!"

While the various shinigami ran around to find the intruders, a large boy with armor covering his right arm and a cat on his left arm sighed. "That was close."

Yoruichi sighed as well, she knew that Urahara's training would give Ichigo hollow powers, but she had gravely underestimated how powerful, and more importantly, _noticeable_ they would be.

Not that raw power on its own would help him against a captain, they needed to get back together quickly.

* * *

Hinamori groaned as she stirred on the floor.

She hadn't been knocked unconscious, but everything still hurt.

From what she could tell, the Seki-Seki barrier was gone, glass shards were strewn everywhere, everyone was freaking out in one way or another, and her Captain was just standing up.

"Hinamori!" Aizen shouted. "Are you okay?"

"Yes!" Hinamori replied. "What on earth was that!?"

"I'm unsure." Aizen lied. "All I know is that a great danger has come to the Seireitei."

Hinamori paled. "What do we do?"

"I will partner up with the other Captains and arrange a meeting." Aizen stated. "You will get all the other shinigami to safety."

"Are you sure?" Hinamori asked. "Don't you need my help?"

"Hinamori." Aizen replied with a smirk, twirling his Zanpakuto flamboyantly. "Don't you think I can take care of myself?"

"No, I do."Hinamori blushed. "I'll get everyone as quick as I can."

"Good." Aizen stated. "I'll be off."

Aizen proceeded to shunpo away, leaving Hinamori to help the others.

Aizen smirked, his project had just touched down in soul society and was already incredibly powerful, who knows what strength it would get in the future.

In his head, his Zanpakuto cackled, and he had to restrain himself from joining in.

* * *

Ichigo and Ganju stared as the bald man began performing an odd dance.

"Lucky, Lucky, Lucky!" Ikkaku chanted as he danced. His friend waited patiently for him to finish.

"Maybe we can sneak away while he's busy?" Ganju asked.

"Why?" Zangestu asked. "We can take these guys."

"Are you insane?" Ganju snapped. "Can't you tell these guys aren't normal soul reapers?"

"Dude." Ichigo stated. "Being serious, I expected that I'll have to fight no matter what Yoruichi says. The crash we made falling in here only confirmed it. Even if we get Rukia, there's nothing stopping the Soul Society from showing up in the living world and trying to take her again. I'm fairly sure nothing other than force will get through to these guys. Stand back if you can't take them, but Zangetsu and I are going to waste these guys."

Ganju grumbled before smirking. "No way am I gonna just run for the hills while you stand and fight."

Ichigo smirked. "Good."

"LUCKY!" Ikkaku finished, landing in a Horse Stance, sword held horizontal before him. "Yumachika, you take the guy with bandana, I got the thug with the zanpakuto."

Yumachika nodded, before charging at Ganju with his sword drawn.

Ganju quickly put on a fisticuffs stance as Ichigo jumped in the air.

Ichigo dived at Ikkaku from the sky, who tried to block with his blade.

Crack!

Both Yumachika and Ganju turned in shock at the massive crater created by the blades clashing.

Pain exploded in Ikkaku's limbs as they nearly dislocated from the shock of the clash. "Holy Shit! This guy's really strong!" He thought.

And yet a shit-eating grin spread on his face as he registered his opponent's strength. "Extend, Hozokimaru!"

A glow formed around his blade as it transformed into a spear with a wax wood shaft and a red horsehair tassel.

"You're pretty good, Ryoka." Ikkaku complimented. "But it's time to get serious!"

Ikkaku lunged, Zanpakuto thrusting toward Ichigo's face.

With a smirk, Ichigo easily swept the spear aside with his free hand and drew back Zangetsu.

"Break, Hozukimaru!"

Ichigo's eyes widened as the spear separated in two places, curving around his back, the blade aiming for his neck.

Ichigo managed to block with Zangetsu before back pedaling for a bit.

While this was happening, Ganju had hurled a few smoke bombs around to distance himself from the feather haired shinigami.

"Bloom, Fuji Kujaku."

Yumachika's zanpakuto split into five, sickle-shaped blades, cutting through the smoke with a swing.

Ganju reached into his pockets, coming up with a series of firecracker bombs before lobbing them all at his opponent.

"Senpenbanka!"

In an impressive display of agility, Yumachika dodged, evaded, and weaved around all the offending explosives with almost unnatural ease before advancing toward Ganju.

Unable to find a way to keep any distance, Ganju jumped backward before turning a wall into sand and jumping through.

Yumachika followed, with a smirk on his face.

Meanwhile, the battle between the other shinigami had turned grim, at least for Ikkaku. His Zanpakuto's trick was simple for Ichigo to avoid after the first time, and Ikkaku's arms were already injured from the first clash.

"This guy's insane..." Ikkaku growled. "How is he so fast?"

With visible effort, the third seat blocked a slash that created another crater in the ground, and the blade on his spear cracked.

"Damn, I'm getting wrecked!" Ikkaku growled, making a particularly large slash to ward Ichigo off.

"This has been a good warm-up," Ichigo smirked. "But I got stuff to do here, so I have to end this."

"The hell you will!" Ikkaku roared, charging with Hozukimaru spinning on the end segment.

Ichigo grinned, swinging his sword with a little reaitsu fed to it.

An expolsion of reaitsu rocked the area, and Ikkaku's unconscious body flew through the air before crashing to the ground in a heap.

"Hopefully, there are stronger people here to fight." Zangetsu said, somewhat dejected.

"We're supposed to not fight everyone here, remember?" Ichigo stated, albeit dissapointed as well. "Welp, let's find Ganju."

BOOM!

Just as he said that, Ichigo turned to see fireworks in the sky, giving him a good idea of where Ganju was.

Ichigo quickly rushed over to the source of the fireworks.

* * *

Chad and Yoruichi looked to the side as they felt a familiar reaitsu.

"Damn, he's throwing what little stealth we have out the window." Yoruichi scowled.

"I don't think we have any left after that crash." Chad argued.

"Fair point." Yoruichi grumbled, wondering what to do. She could easily find Ichigo with the level of reaitsu he's putting off, but then she wasn't sure what to do next, as she wasn't sure where to go.

"We'll find one of my hideouts, then come the others." Yoruichi ordered. "Preferably one that's abandoned, that way no one will come in at a bad time."

"What about the others?" Chad said.

"As long as they don't bump into a captain, they'll be fine." Yoruichi said.

Chad nodded and, with Yoruichi directions, headed off into the forest, hoping his friends were all right.

* * *

Yachiru's head whipped around as she felt one of her friend's reaitsu drop right after a spike of another.

"Kenny, I think Baldy got beat." Yachiru stated, pointing to the left. "Over there."

"Looks like we found the hollow." Kenpachi grinned, rushing off to fight it. "Let's see how long it lasts against me!"

For a brief moment there was silence, then the roof tiles of a storage building rattled slightly as something – or, rather, someone – shifted their weight.

"I think he's gone." Orihime stated.

Uryu sighed in relief. "The reaitsu I sensed from that monster was incredible. Fortunately, his observation skills are rather lacking. But what he talking about? How did a hollow get here?"

"I don't know." Orihime stated. "Maybe he's sensing us wrong?"

"His observation skills are rather lacking to not notice us. Now, where do we go?"

"Maybe that white tower." Orihime pointed in the distance. "We could fly up there and look for everyone from up high-"

"Orihime!" Uryuu suddenly shouted.

Crash!

"...To have dodged my blade at such a close range." The giant shinigami turned to Uryuu holding Orihime tight. "Impressive, but it means nothing. You will have ten seconds to regret coming here before you die. Ten..."

As the man counted, Orihime looked at Uryuu in astonishment. "When did he get so fast?" She thought.

However, she soon got over it. "Thanks for the save Uryuu."

"Yes." Ishida stated. "You'll be fine."

"Zero!" The giant shouted, charging with his sword drawn. "Hope you had enough time to reflect on your grief!"

Orihime's hands went to her hairpins as the giant leaped. "Santen Kesshun!"

Clang!

Her shield materialized, blocking the blade with ease.

"What is this?" The shinigami gaped.

"Koten Zanshun!"

The shinigami squawked as he felt a small flying blade cut into his arm.

Orihime gaped. "That worked!" She thought in combined excitement and guilt.

Uryuu wasn't idle during this however, and quickly shot the giant in the hand with a arrow.

"A quincy." The giant frowned. "And a girl with strange powers, both specializing in ranged combat...It appears I will need my full power. You two, my name is Jirobo Ikkanzaka! Remember it, because it will be the name you will ever know!"

Jirobo quickly points his blade upward, before placing his hand on it.

"Flap Away, Tsunzakigarasu!"

Poof!

Where a normal katana was, a few dozen flying blades now were.

"Behold, the zanpakuto of the Kamaitachi, lord of ranged weapons, Tsunzakigarasu! My blades fly in the wind, preparing to strike you both down with great force. You can only watch as they rush toward you to claim your-"

Fwoosh!

Jirobo blinked as his blades were all shot out of the sky by blue arrows.

"It appears that your title is a bit misleading," Uryuu stated, his bow still smoking from the shots. "When it comes to ranged attacks, I'm clearly the better man."

"A-Absurd!" Jirobo spluttered, unsheathing his zanpakuto. "That was a fluke! You're too cocky for your own go-"

Before he could recreate his blades, his hands was cut by another arrow courtesy of Uyruu.

"My hand!" Jirobo wailed. "What have you done to my hand?!"

"Amazing!" Orihime thought. "Uryuu is so much more powerful now!"

"It appears..." Uryuu stated. "That you are the one with regrets now."

"You...You arrogant brat! I'll kill you!" Jirobo roared, attempting a shunpo to slug the brat with his fist...only to run face first into a transparent wall. "What?!" He gaped as he found himself in a bubble. "What is this?!"

"That would be my Souten Kisshun."

The giant turned incredulous eyes on the girl behind him.

"Incredible." Jirobo gaped. "I've been defeated so easily, both of your attacks and defenses far exceed mine in speed."

A few seconds passed with the three standing on the roof.

He then scowled. "Well then? Finish me off. This is the fate of a loser."

"Jirobo?" Orihime stated. "Look at your hands."

Jirobo gaped as he saw his hand were healed, as if they had never been injured in the first place.

Uryuu was dumbfounded at the kind gesture. "Why would Orihime heal the enemy like that?!" He thought.

"You...You intend to let me live?" Jirobo asked in shock.

"Yeah." Orihime agreed. "We don't want any trouble, stop attacking us and we'll be on our way."

"...It would seem that you are a kind hearted soul," Jirobo stated. "...Too bad for you!"

It only due to a combination of Yoruichi's training and Tatsuki's martial arts spars that Orihime managed to dodge the blade, even then blade grazed her neck and almost cut a major artery. "Gah!" She yelped as she stumbled back and held a hand to her neck to slow down the bleeding, shock, pain, rage, and fear surging through her. "What was that for?! I healed you!"

Jirobo swung his sword to release more spinning blades and flung them at Uryuu. "You are intruders! I am obligated to kill you no matter what you do. Regret that it was your naivete that killed you here!"

Uryuu easily destroyed the flying blades and shot Jirobo in the back. "Coward," He spat, cursing his shock, had he not been taken off guard by Orihime's healing, he would've easily intercepted that attack. "To think you'd have so little pride in you that you'd strike a girl that just helped you."

Orihime was particularly shocked at the attack, outraged that he'd try to kill her after what she did.

"You..." She growled, one of her hairpins glowing as rage won out in her, her, blackness bleeding into her right eye. "Koten Zanshun!"

Tsubaki blasted out of her hairpin, his barrier noticeably more solid than before.

Jirobo wailed in pain as the hand holding Tsunzakigarasu was cut almost in half.

Uryuu quickly capitalized on the giant's pain, and shot the giant in the Soul Sleep and Chain, destroying his shinigami powers and sending him flying into the distance. "Coward, I bid you farewell."

Uryuu then turned to Orihime. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah." Orihime said, her rage quickly fading along the the black in her eye. She quickly used a Souten Kisshun to heal the cut to her neck.

"Good." Uryuu stated, before frowning a bit. "Why did you heal him?"

Orihime started looking down. "I didn't think he'd attack us like that after what you did, and Jindanbo was rather nice."

"Fair point." Uryuu retorted. "But don't think that everyone here will be so grateful, we are invading after all."

Orihime nodded solemnly before clapping her hands to her temples. "Right! Let's go!"

* * *

"Prepare to die-awk!"

Ichigo sighed as another shinigami jumped him, only to be swatted aside by Zangestu.

"These grunts are weak." Zangetsu whined. "They all have gone down in one hit, and most of them can't even catch us."

"Would you rather someone capable of killing us show up?" Ichigo said incredulously.

"Yes." Zangetsu replied.

"Seriously!?" Ganju snapped in dumbfoundment, while Ichigo's expression wasn't much better.

"What?" Zangetsu shot back. "You have to admit steamrolling these random foot soldiers is getting boring."

"I'd rather be bored than dead." Ichigo replied, crossing a corner.

"Hey!" A voice called out, drawing Ichigo's and Ganju's attention. "Get them!"

They turned to see a few dozen foot soldiers rushing them.

Ichigo, with a bland look on his face, swings his sword, sending a black energy wave that sent all of the shinigami flying in different directions.

"Although this _is_ getting annoying." Ichigo admitted.

A squeak of fear caught their attention.

Ichigo blinked as he saw a short boy look at the two in terror.

"Um..." The shinigami muttered. "You're the ryoka running around the seireitei, are you?"

"Yes, we are." Ichigo stated. "I'd rather not waste anymore foot soldiers, so could you move aside?"

"Do you seriously think that will work?" Ganju said incredulously.

"It's worth a try." Ichigo argued. "Rukia's gonna be pissed at me for wasting as many people as I have already."

"...Wait." The shinigami paused, wondering if he heard that right. "Rukia? Rukia _Kuchiki_?"

"Yeah!" Ichigo yelled, running over. "You know her?"

"N-Not really." The shinigami admitted. "I just talked to her during my janitor work."

"Wait!" Ganju roared. "That means you can get us the shrine of penitence, right?"

"Um, Yes?" Hanataro gulped, starting to think he most likely wasn't getting out of this.

"Great!" Ichigo stated, picking the guy up. "Lead the way!"

"Kay." The shinigami moaned, now knowing he definitely wasn't getting out of this.

* * *

"Is this all of the lieutenants?" Yasochika asked.

"Except for Yachiru." Lieutenant Hinamori answered. "Give us the report. What's happening out there?"

"We haven't seen any trace of the hollow that crashed down into the seireitei, but the ryoka have been seen at many different areas."

"Where?" Iba asked.

"In the 11th Division, sights of a orange haired shinigami with blade as tall as he is defeating multiple dozen shinigami with relative ease." Yasochika stated. "Sources believe that he also defeated Ikkaku Madarame of the 3rd Seat and Yumichika Ayasegawa of the 5th. Both are being treated at the 4th division as we speak."

Needless to say the other shinigami were alarmed with this news, what they sensed seemed like a problem yes, but two seated members down so quickly?

"Such damage in just a few hours." Isane stated.

"Tch." Omaeda snorted. "The 11th division is really slipping."

"They seem to be heading this way, but we cannot sense their Reaitsu at the moment, so their whereabouts are unknown." Yasochika added.

Renji frowned. "I don't know where that bastard is now, but I know where he's going!" He thought.

"Obviously, our intelligence needs work." Rangiku stated.

"Now that I think of it, our 4th seat has been missing for a while." Iba added.

"Wait, the wind scythe was defeated?" Shuhei asked incredulously.

"What the hell is going on here?" Kira snapped in confusion.

"My my, I guess we have a real problem on our hands, right Renji?" Hinamori turned to where she thought Renji was, only to find herself speaking to thin air. "Where did he...?"

* * *

"Sewers." Ganju moaned. "It had to be SEWERS."

"Shut up!" Ichigo snapped. "We were running into shinigami left and right before, now we won't have expend any more reaitsu on fighting!"

"This still sucks!" Ganju argued. "You can't deny that!"

"OK, fair point." Ichigo agreed. "How do you stand this stench anyway, Hanataro?"

"We 4th division shinigami usually get stuck with grunt work due to us only being good at healing and medical care, and people rarely get injured up here." Hanataro stated. "Well not counting when a 11th member cuts someone."

"Yeah, I noticed those guys seem kinda stab-happy." Ganju added.

"Sucks that they were so weak," Zangetsu said. "They would've made a good warm-up for Byakuya."

Ichigo agreed, he really did want to pay back Byakuya for what happened.

"Hanataro?" Ichigo asked slowly, after a few seconds had passed. "You said earlier that you'd heard about me from Rukia. What did she tell you about me?"

Hanataro blushed. "Well… before she was brought to the Senzaikyuu, Rukia was interred in the Sixth Division barracks, where I was assigned janitorial duty.

"She was incredibly nice for a Noble, I thought she wouldn't even look at me, and yet she called me over for someone to talk to." Hanataro said. "She didn't even want me to call her 'Miss Kuchiki', she just wanted 'Rukia'."

"Yep." Ichigo said with a smile. "Sounds just like the midget."

"Her voice was so gentle, and her demeanor so kind. She talked about the living world for so long." Hanataro said. "About juice boxes, TV, and mod souls in stuffed animals. But mostly... she talked about you, Kurosaki-san."

"She said she could trust you with her life if she needed it, despite only knowing you for a few months." Hanataro continued. "But she told me that because of what she did, you had to go through a lot of changes and pain in your life. She thinks that she could never make it up to you, and that seems to bring her even more pain than her impending execution."

"Seems like this Rukia is as unusual as you." Ganju stated to Ichigo.

"Yeah...she is." Ichigo said, starting to run.

"Hey! Where are you going?" Ganju roared.

"I'm going to save her! She said she could trust me with her life, and now she lost her powers and is going to lose her life because she wanted to protect me and my family! What kind of person would I be if I didn't do something about this!" Ichigo roared, charging for the exit.

When they got of the sewer, they were met by a thick mist covering the area.

"The coast is clear." Ichigo said after doing a quick 360. "You guys come up."

"Fresh air!" Ganju roared. "Finally!"

"There!" Hanataro stated, pointing to the white tower in the distance. "The shrine of penitence. I'm afraid this is as far as you get with the sewers."

"Well then, let's go." Ichigo said, walking up to the stairs

Ichigo froze as he felt a wave of powerful reiatsu slowly wash over him, vaguely familiar to his senses. "Guys, hold up! I can feel it, someone's out there!"

Slowly descending from the steps of the building in front of them was a Shinigami with long, vivid red hair and black tattoos over his eyes. He slowly lifted the visor he was wearing, revealing brown eyes.

"It's been a long time, Ryoka. Do you remember my face?"

"I do, Renji Abarai," Ichigo scowled. "But you'll be forgotten soon enough."

"You remember my face and my name." Renji gave a grin of spite. "Impressive, but this is the end of the line."

"We'll see about that." Ichigo growled, black reaitsu forming around Zangetsu.

"Who is this guy?" Ganju blinked. "His power is even greater than the seated members we bumped into."

"Oh noo..." Hanataro gasped in terror. "That's Renji Abarai! The lieutenant of squad 6."

"Lieutenant?" Ganju gaped. "Shit. Ichigo we-What are you doing?!"

"Getting some payback." Ichigo growled, walking towards Renji.

"You fool." Renji snarled. "You are going to die here. I'm going to kill the one who stole Rukia's powers. As long as you live, Rukia will never recover her power!"

"Why would you care after you all sentenced her to death?!" Ichigo roared, charging at Renji and swinging Zangetsu full force, and Renji barely got his Zanpakuto drawn in time to block it. The red-haired Shinigami moved to retaliate, his zanpakuto's name coming out of him.

"Howl, Zabimaru!"

* * *

Orihime and Uryu paused as they felt a surge of Ichigo's reaitsu in the distance.

"I think Ichigo ran into some one tough again." Orihime gulped.

"You could say that again." Uryuu growled, recognizing the reaitsu of the guy Ichigo's fighting. "Renji Abarai, one the bastards that took Rukia in the first place."

Orihime's eyes widened, "Should we go help?"

"Yeah." Uryuu started sprinting to the location of the tower.

* * *

Yachiru grinned as she felt Ichigo's reaitsu on the rise again.

"Kenny!" She ordered. "Over there! The Ryoka's fighting again! Against Renji this time!"

Kenpachi grinned, rushing off even faster than before. "This ryoka seems to be one-upping himself again and again. He may truly be a worthy opponent."

* * *

Clang!

Zangestu clashed against Zabimaru with incredible force, the shockwave alone blowing dust in the air.

Renji jumped back and swung his blade, extending and shooting it at Ichigo, who merely sidestepped it before swatting away the follow up slice with Zangetsu.

Renji recalled his blade, then was forced to duck under a blast of energy from the sword.

"Amazing!" Hanataro gaped. "He's completely overpowering Lieutenant Abarai! What kind of human is he?"

"I'm starting to wonder myself." Ganju stated.

"Tell me, Ichigo!" Renji snapped. "Do you really think you can rescue Rukia?"

"I do!"

"Even if you defeat me here, there are still 11 Lieutenants left." Renji explained. "And above them, there are 13 Captains. You'll have to defeat us all to rescue Rukia."

"I don't care how many Liuetenants and Captains there are!" Ichigo roared. "No one will stop me!"

"That confidence of yours borders on insanity!" Renji taunted. "You gain Shikai and you suddenly think you're invincible!"

"He said we'll do it so we'll do it!" Zangetsu roared. "Send in every Captain here and we'll cut them all down!"

Ichigo took the opening made by Renji's shock at Zangetsu's talking with gutso, swinging his sword down on Zabimaru.

Renji paled. "I can't dodge this!"

Boom!

An explosion rocked the area as the blast hit, sending Renji flying.

"Fuck!" Renji roared, spinning in the air to land on his feet.

"You've gotten stronger." Ichigo stated. "Last time we fought you could barely move after that."

"You seem to think that you already know my strength just by having fought me once." Renji growled. "Well let me tell you something, When the ranked Lieutenants and above are sent outside, our powers are severely limited so that we don't adversely affect the human world. I'm 5 times more powerful than before!"

"Well that isn't making a difference isn't it?" Ichigo shot back. "I have been overpowering you this whole fight! You have yet to even cut me!"

"Allow me to fix that!" Renji roared, jumping in the air and swinging Zabimaru down.

Ichigo rolled to side, trying to slash at where Renji was falling, only for him to suddenly blur from view, catching Ichigo off guard and rushing past him so fast that Ganju and Hanataro barely registered what happened.

"Damn it…" Ichigo grunted as he took note of the decent sized gash on his right side. "What was that?"

"Shunpo." Renji stated. "A high-speed movement technique which allows the user to move faster than the eye can follow. You may have strength, but your skill is lacking."

Renji blurred from sight again, and Ichigo jumped back to see where he went.

This decision proved well for the shinigami, allowing him to see Zabimaru rushing towards from above.

"This is all your fault!" Renji roared. "If it weren't for you, Rukia wouldn't be going through all this!"

Ichigo slashed upwards, deflecting Zabimaru and jumping upwards to clash with Renji in mid-air.

As the two fell, the blades countered and parried each other in an attempt to cut the owner.

"My word." Hanataro gaped. "Those two are so strong."

"I only hope Ichigo's stronger." Ganju growled.

* * *

"The sun is setting." Chad stated.

"I know." Yoruichi growled. "Finding everyone will only get more out of hand in the dark, but I think I can find them before then."

"What should I do?" Chad stated.

"You stay here." Yoruichi ordered. "I'll bring everyone I can here. There's a training ground under her to refine your powers a bit more."

Chad nodded, he could feel the reaitsu Ichigo was blasting out in the air, if he had to use such power, Chad wasn't sure he could keep up, hopefully a little more training would help with that.

* * *

"Quite an exciting day, eh, Captain Aizen?"

Sosuke Aizen turned to his old Lieutenant and smiled. There was no sign of the friendly Captain, liked by everyone. In his place was the mastermind that normally hid behind the personable mask. "Indeed, Gin."

Aizen had left his Division headquarters in the middle of the night. His current Lieutenant, Momo Hinamori, was still having a meeting with the other lieutenants. Tonight, Sosuke Aizen would disappear.

"You left the note, right?" Gin stated, referring to the note about Hitsugaiya murdering Aizen.

"Actually," Aizen stated. "There will be a change of plans tonight."

"Oh?" Gin blinked, wondering what was his former captain planning.

"At the rate at which the ryoka are going, they may have a chance at rescuing Rukia." Aizen explained. "It would do well to slow them down."

"So you're framing the ryoka?" Gin's smile grew wider.

"Of course." Aizen stated. "Ichigo has already proved himself capable of defeating seated members and his hollow powers will be discovered soon enough. He will be easy to frame. Plus, you will be able to get around easier with less suspicion on you."

"Pity." Gin shook his head, yet kept his grin. "I looked forward to messing Shiro-chan and Momo."

"Don't worry." Aizen stated, pulling out Kyoka Suigetsu. "You may be able to toy with them yet."

* * *

Zabimaru extended yet again, charging down Ichigo with murderous intent.

Zangetsu met the other zanpakuto's blade, deflecting it yet again.

By now, both combatants were tiring and injured, albeit Ichigo less so.

"Is that all you have Renji?!" Ichigo roared. "You claim to want to kill me and is all you can muster?" Ichigo then smirked as he lunched forward and swung his sword ferociously.

Renji scowled as he dodged another crushing blow from the ryoka. "Damn, his reaitsu's gotten even stronger than the last time we met." He thought. "How could he improve so much in so little time?"

Renji used shunpo again, blitzing past Ichigo and striking at him in the back.

However, used to that trick now, Ichigo was able to counter the blade and slash at Renji again, spilling more blood.

"Damn it!" Renji gasped, having difficulty even raising Zabimaru. "What is this? How are you so much stronger?"

"I grew stronger because I need to save Rukia," Ichigo declared proudly.

"From what _you_ caused!" Renji shot back.

Ichigo scowled. "Have you ever wondered why Rukia gave me her powers?"

Renji was temporarily struck mute, causing Ichigo to scoff.

"I was under attack by a hollow, a hollow that Rukia couldn't defeat, a hollow was going to eat me, her, and my two sisters." Ichigo snarled. "She gave me the power so I protect myself, protect her! We would've died if she hadn't! Could you imagine how strong a hollow that ate a shinigami and someone like me would become?!" Renji paled at the implications. "We had no other options, and even if we did, could you blame us for not thinking of them?"

"Yes, we broke the law." Ichigo said. "But if the says what we did is grounds for death, then I'll kick down the law and beat down anyone who upholds it!"

Renji growled, unable to accept that Ichigo was justified in his actions. "You bastard!" Renji roared, going for one last attack. "This is your fault! If you never existed, Rukia would've have never been in that situation at all!"

"You idiot! You think I don't know that? That's why I have to save her!" Ichigo shot back, swinging Zangetsu as well.

"And what happens if you or one of your friends die saving her? She accepted her fate to save your worthless life! Can you possibly imagine the pain she would feel after you threw it away!?" Renji roared.

"Nobody will die on my watch!" Ichigo shouted back. "I'll stand and beat any opponent that tries to hurt my friends!"

"Empty promises!" Renji hotly declared, tears forming in his eyes. "Easy to state!"

"I have never, in my whole life," Zangestu and Zabimaru clashed yet again. "Thought of any promises as easy!"

"How could you stand there and declare a pipe-dream like defeating all of the captains so easily then?!"

"It's not easy! I worked really hard! I made myself better one day at a time! Through training that could and _would_ kill anyone without the resolve to see through to the end!"

A shockwave that rocked the area came from the dueling shinigami, as their reaitsu were pushed to their limits, Renji's red fighting Ichigo's black.

Soon, the light was blinding anyone who didn't shield their eyes.

And yet soon, the black won out.

A second shockwave knocked Ganju and Hanataro off their feet as Renji, with his now broken sword flew through the air.

As he was sailing through the air, Renji could feel his strength and will to fight rapidly dwindling away. "He beat me...again."

Renji hit the floor with a thud as Ichigo fell to his knee, the battle damage taking its toll.

"He...He won!" Hanataro squeed. "Ichigo won!"

Ichigo got back up to his feet. "Yeah, I won. Phew! That a good enough fight for ya, Zangetsu?"

"Hell yeah!" Zangetsu roared. "That was definitely a worthy opponent."

"Heh." Renji chuckled, causing the others to jump.

"He's getting back up!" Ganju roared.

"You...you really think you can save Rukia?" Renji asked.

"Yes." Ichigo stated proudly.

"Well then, I can't stop you." Renji said. "And hopefully no one else can either."

"Did you even want to stop us?" Ganju asked.

"No...not really," Renji said. "I was just scared of getting my hopes up." Renji stumbled forward, coughing up more blood. "Ichigo...Can you promise me something? Do what I couldn't. Defeat Byakuya, and save Rukia. Please."

"...I will."

"Thank...you..." And with that, Renji dropped to the floor.

"Renji!" Ichigo rushed to his side.

"H-Hey. This guy isn't..." Ganju paled.

"N-no, he's okay." Hanataro stated, checking his vitals. "Though he has lost a lot of blood. Around a class 2 hemorrhage."

Ganju blinked. "You deduced that so quickly."

Hanataro blushed. "I am a member of squad 4, I'm pretty good with these things. I think a few sessions of healing kido in a safe spa-"

The air doubled in weight, and everyone in the area suddenly dropped to their knees.

Something very powerful had just popped up out of nowhere.

"Gillian?" Ichigo thought. "No. This reaitsu doesn't have the hunger most hollows do. But the bloodlust...the potency...nothing else even comes close. Hell, this seems even stronger than that giant thing. It's like a blade is being pinned against my throat."

What…?" Hanataro gasped in a way that betrayed the brand of confusion he was feeling to those that could hear him. This wasn't a question asked as if he didn't know what was going on…

It was the question asked in pure terror, as if he knew what this was, but didn't know why it was happening.

"Not that one..." A voice from nowhere stated. "Not that one..."

"The fu-" Ichigo stammered. "Who is that?!"

" **Are you the one?** "

That was all the warning Ichigo got before something impaled him through the chest.


	4. When Captains Attack

Uryuu Ishida scowled at his new attire. The uniform had a little thistle symbol stitched into it, signaling that he was from the 12 squad.

"Of all the squads I could get, it's this one." Uryuu mentally groaned. "Could this day get any worse?"

Orihime, currently wearing the same outfit, had thought that if there wore shinigami robes around, they wouldn't get attacked every time they were seen.

And to her credit, they managed to avoid any more fights by the time nightfall hit.

Hopefully, they'd get to the tower without getting caught.

"Heey..." A voice came from behind.

Uryuu and Orihime both looked behind them to see a heavily built, and very clearly drunk shinigami stumbling towards them.

"Hold it there." The shinigami said. "What're you doing here?"

"Er..." Orihime mumbled. "We're heading to The shrine of Pertinence."

"Why? And what squad are ya from?"

"He's getting suspicious. Not good." Uryuu thought before replying. "We're from the 12th squad, and we're checking the seals on the prisoner."

"What seals?" The man snapped. "I thought that Kuchiki girl lost her powers?"

"W-Well that's b-because," Orihime stuttered. "We're ensuring she doesn't regain them."

"Oh." The shinigami stopped his interrogation. "Well then, you guys better go on your way."

Orihime sighed in relief before beaming. "We sure wi-"

"Hey!"

"Oh come on!" Orihime thought as more shinigami hurried down the street.

"We've been looking all over for you two." One of the shinigami said.

"Looking for us?" The two thought.

Uryuu in particular saw a big red flag waving in his face. "Do they know?"

"We saw you got lost, but it's best not to be going alone with all the ryoka running around." Another said.

"We should get back to the quarters were it's safe." Yet another added.

"Oh no, We're on a night-time mission from the captain." Orihime said, her face slightly panicky.

"I'm sure it can til morni-"

BOOM!

It was only Orihime's reflexes that stopped the both of them from getting blown to cinders, a shield forming to them from the kamikaze soldiers.

"How disappointing." A cold, slightly nasal voice that put Uryuu on edge was heard. "I had thought that would damage them enough for capture."

"H-He bl-blew them up..." Orihime said. "Wh-What kind of- They b-barely had a ch-chance t-to catch us..."

A man walked out the smoke with white face paint, as well as a second coating of black face paint around his eyes, nose, and above his upper lip. He wore a Captain's haori, gold ornaments over his chin and ears, and a strange hat which extended to two points over the Shinigami's right shoulder.

"That mask… I still remember." Uryuu's mind froze in horror. "It's the same person…"

"Hello." The captain said with a dark smirk, strolling over to the terrified teens. "I am the Captain of the Twelfth Division, and the Second President of the Shinigami Research Institute of Technology. Mayuri Kurotsuchi." His smirk turned sadistic. "And I'd love to dissect you."

* * *

"Gak!" Ichigo stumbled, reeling from a stab wound that wasn't there.

"Ichigo!" Ganju yelped. "What happened?!"

Ichigo held a hand to his chest. "I-I felt like something stabbed me-"

"King!" Zangetsu snapped. "Behind you!"

Ichigo whipped around, only to jump at the sight of a large man with spiky hair and bells attached to said spikes. The was wearing an eye-patch and, most alarmingly, the Captain's haori.

"Hey there. Been looking all over for you." the large captain said.

"Who the hell are you?" Ichigo yelled.

"Zenpachi Zaraki. Captain of Squad 11." Zenpachi said simply. "I'm here to fight you."

"Crap." Ganju thought.

Ichigo thought about Yoruichi's warning to avoid captains at all cost. "Yeah, I doubt I can run from this."

"What's the matter?" Zenpachi said. "I said that I'm challenging you to a battle. Since you haven't said anything, can I start?"

Ichigo gripped Zangetsu, his eyes swiveling towards Ganju, who was struggling to stand, and Hanataro, who was drooling on the ground half-conscious.

"You guys alright?!" Ichigo roared in concern.

"I've...been better." Ganju gasped. "But you've got worse problems, turn around and fight him!"

"Fine, but you two get going." Ichigo stated, turning back around to Kenpachi, preparing to face him. "Leave this guy to me."

Part of Ganju wanted to violently protest to this statement, but his logical side new he had no chance against this guy.

Not to mention that Hanataro was getting the life choked out of him in the captain's very presence.

Scowling, Ganju picked up Hanataro and ran off, giving one last piece of advice. "Don't get your dumb ass killed!"

"Not happeni- "Ichigo started before jumping as something landed on his shoulder.

"Wow! You scared that guy bad, Kenny!" Ichigo's head whipped around to see a small pink haired girl standing on his shoulder. "He fainted right on the spot!"

"The fuck?" Ichigo swung his arm to get the girl off, and the girl flew all the way back to the giant. "Who are you?"

"I'm Yachiru Kusajishi, Lieutenant of squad 11." The small girl said. "You seem mad."

"Are you surprised?" Zenpachi said in irritation. "That was just stupid."

"Well stupid is as stupid does." Yachiru casually shot back, jumping on a wall.

Ichigo blinked. "What are you doing?"

"Getting a front row seat for Kenny's fight, obviously." Yachiru said.

"Wait, you aren't helping him?" Ichigo said in confusion.

"Nope, Kenny likes fighting solo." Yachiru stated.

"We here in the 11th squad do one-on-one fights only." Kenpachi smirked. "Now enough talk! Bring it on!"

With no choice, Ichigo drew Zangetsu and charged the strangest and strongest opponent he faced yet.

* * *

Uryuu summoned his spirit bow at once, shooting an arrow at the mad scientist's head.

The man, without missing a beat, craned his neck at a horrific angle to avoid the arrow, still walking towards them and observing Orihime's shield.

"A defensive shield, not unlike a Bakudo 81. Interesting." The man grinned. "I'll make you an offer, Girl. Why don't you come work for me as a research subject?"

This shook Orihime out of her shock, and looked over at the melted corpses strewn about, before giving Mayuri the fiercest glare one could give with tears in their eyes. " _No._ "

"Is that so?" Mayuri said, drawing his zanpakuto. "Well, I'm afraid your compliance isn't a factor."

"Orihime, get-" Uryuu started to say, only to be cut off by Mayuri suddenly advancing.

Uryuu grabbed Orihime and used the Hirenkyaku to retreat backwards and upwards with her, quickly notching more arrows and launching a barrage at the face-painted captain.

Orihime put her hands to her earrings, letting Tsubaki fly in case Mayuri survived that.

Her fear were not unfounded as a figure rushed from the side, grabbing Uryuu's arrow.

"What the-" Uryuu balked at the female shinigami that came from nowhere and jumped them.

He unfortunately wasn't given anytime to think as Mayuri rushed out of the smoke and slashed at them with his released sword.

"Santen Kesshun!"

A shield popped up out of thin air and blocked the blade, to Mayuri's shock and excitement.

"You can materialize this shield so quickly!" Mayuri grinned.

Orihime proceeded to swing a karate kick into Nemu's stomach to make the woman let go of Uryuu.

However, this had significantly less effect, as the shinigami took the blow without so much as a flinch.

Mayuri, taking advantage of Orihime's unstable balance from the kick, shunpo'd behind to slash at her.

Fortunately, Uryuu was able to use Ransotengai to yank Orihime out of the way like a puppet.

"Ransotengai." Mayuri's eyes suddenly glittered with fascination. "No Quincy I happened upon could use that technique. You may have potential yet, boy."

"Thanks." Uryuu shot back, his tone full of spite as he looked at the changed blade. It had transformed into a crooked trident with a baby head at the base.

Uryuu tried to dodge the next attack, but the girl grabbing him stopped him from moving.

Uryuu gasped in pain as the blade cut into his arm and chest, and Nemu dropped to the ground.

"This is my zanpakuto, Ashisogi Jizo." Mayuri gloated. "Ashisogi Jizo severs the nerves that carry signals to and from the brain, paralyzing what ever it cuts. However…" He stabbed Ishida's left leg and the Quincy yelled in pain. "The pain receptors are unaffected."

"Ishida-kun!" Orihime cried in panic. "Koten Zanshun! Santen Kesshun! Souten Kisshun!"

A black orb rushed at the two 12th squad members, causing them jump back.

Orihime quickly ran over to Ishida with her fairies at her side, making a shield to block any attack Mayuri might make, and another shield to heal Ishida.

"Stay back!" Orihime snapped, sending Tsubaki zooming around the two.

"Tch!" Mayuri batted the fairy away with his sword, only for it to come flying back.

"Mayu-" Nemu started, only to get decked in the face, dropping to the ground.

"Wha-" Orihime blinked, shocked and confused by the action.

"Nemu, you dolt." Mayuri snapped, pulling her up by her hair. "How could you ignore the girl like that?"

"My apologies, Mayuri-sa-"

The apology cut off abruptly with a crunch, as Nemu was slammed into a wall.

"Stop that!" Orihime cried, visibly appalled. "What are you doing?"

"Disciplining my subordinate." Mayuri said with a raised eyebrow, as if he had been asked if water was wet. "What does it look like?"

"You can't do that!" Orihime snapped.

As if to directly taunt Orihime, Mayuri slammed Nemu's head into the wall with even greater force than before. "Hmph. What a father does to his child is no business to you, girl."

Orihime felt a huge lump in her throat, this man was treating his own daughter like dirt.

She had no personal experience with parents she could remember, but she knew from the times she saw Tatsuki's mom that this was far from what should be.

Something darker than rage started to bubble in her throat as she glared at the bastard, something she had never felt in her life, something she couldn't quite put her finger on.

All she knew was this guy was going down. _Hard_.

"Koten Zanshun!"

Tsubaki rushed toward Mayuri, faster than ever, and started to actually cut him.

Orihime looked back to check on Ishida, who's wound was healing very quickly.

A drained gasp left Orihime as she registered her reaitsu reserves dropping fast. "No! Not now!" She thought.

"Don't panic, Orihime!" Hinagiku stated.

"Yeah!" Baigon added. "Just do the best with what you can!"

"Right!" Orihime said, focusing back on Mayuri and Nemu.

Just in time as well, as Mayuri chose the moment to shunpo closer and strike.

Orihime moved her shield to block the attack, but Mayuri had sharpened his reaitsu and was able to cut through the shield, albeit just part of it.

Orihime squawked as the nicked her arm, causing it to go limp.

"I believe that this fight is ending." Mayuri stated, pushing in the blade deeper, causing Orihime to scream.

An narrowly dodged arrow shoots off into the sky.

Mayuri leaps back scowling, a small gash on his cheek.

Orihime hit the floor, grabbing her numb arm in agony.

"To think you could get up so fast." Mayuri said in visible irritation. "You're both rather resilient."

"We are." Uryuu said. "Nothing you do can stop us, I swear on my Quincy pride."

Mayuri's face fell into an annoyed grimace. "Oh, don't even _start_ with that!"

"What?" Uryuu managed, thrown off by the statement.

"That 'Quincy pride', it's all your kind talk about!" Mayuri snapped. "Do you know _why_ I know about the Ransotengai?"

The question struck Orihime and Uyruu mute, prompting Mayuri to continue his rant.

"I've studied every aspect of the Quincy! Every technique! Their pain tolerance! Their reaction to mental and physical stimuli!" Mayuri raged, his tirade getting truly massive. "I've cut open their very souls to see how they concentrate reishi and mix it with their reaitsu! I've used Ashisogi Jizo to disable the limbs of hundreds, if not thousands of Quincies to get them to use that very Ransotengai technique you use! I've even ripped their organs, one by one, and cut open their brains to see if there was any connection to their evolutionary path in wielding reishi!"

Orihime resisted the urge to vomit.

"I've made discoveries that would go down in history! But did any of them care? _NO!_ They merely kept spouting that Quincy Pride bullshit!" Mayuri snarled, before mimicking the various Quincies he's tortured. "Upon the pride of the Quincy, I will never do such a thing! I swear on the pride of the Quincy, I will not let that happen!"

Uryuu's hands started to shake.

"Pathetic! Nothing but lies and empty promises!" Mayuri roared. "Even the last Quincy I experimented on was ranting about his pride. An old fool who's named I've forgotten."

Uryuu froze. " _What?_ "

Mayuri produced a piece of paper, dropping it carelessly. It fluttered to the ground, landing blank side down. Printed on it was a photograph; it...it couldn't be considered a body at that point, more like a limbless carcass and several chunks of meat and organs, bleeding over a operating table.

This time, Orihime _did_ throw up.

Uryuu didn't hurl, but with the look of utter horror on his face, he might as well have.

There was no way to tell, but he knew for a fact that he saw his grandfather on that picture.

Uryuu gritted his teeth so hard, they could've broke.

He glared at the man that murdered his grandfather with vengeance in his mind.

"You..." Uryuu snarled, standing up, and flowing with energy.

"What is this?" Mayuri thought. "Is he using another technique?"

"I swear on my _Quincy Pride..._ " Uryuu snarled. " _That I'm going to kill you, you Monster!_ "

While this was happening, Orihime was laying sideways on the ground.

Orihime felt something bubble in her, as she wiped bile off her chin and shirt.

It was something she still couldn't put her finger on at first, having never really felt this emotion before, at least not at this level.

It wasn't her fault, rage didn't even come close to describing what she was experiencing, and she rarely even felt that.

Orihime barely even registered the numbness in her arm anymore.

She didn't notice her legs standing up on their own.

She didn't hear Mayuri charge up a kido spell, or Uryuu notch an arrow on his bow.

She didn't notice the black trickling into her eyes, or her reaitsu reserves filling back up for no reason.

All she felt was a feeling, a feeling she had never felt, a feeling she never wanted to feel, and she just figured out what it was.

Hatred.

She stood there, brewing in this feeling until a foreign, yet oddly familiar voice rang in his head.

" **Kill Him.** "

* * *

Ichigo's blade slammed into Kenpachi's, driving the giant Shinigami back.

Kenpachi was quick to start pushing back and the two Zanpakuto sparked as their wielders struggled for dominance.

Ichigo gave a strong push, feeding Zangetsu reaitsu to get a good blast.

Said blast knocked Kenpachi off his feet, and Ichigo pressed his advantage, quickly jabbing at the man's chest.

To his intense frustration, he had serious issues actually cutting him, the blade barely piercing skin.

He tried to push the blade in deeper only for Kenpachi to grab the blade and lift it, and by proxy Ichigo, into the air.

"Shi-"

Wham!

A surge of pain rushed through Ichigo's body as he was thrown to the floor.

"Come on, Ryoka! Don't tell me that's all you got!" Kenpachi laughed.

"Like hell it is!" Ichigo roared, getting up and swinging at Kenpachi, shooting off another blast of black energy from Zangetsu.

Kenpachi gave a feral grin, slashing the blast in two, just in for Ichigo to close the gap and swing at Kenpachi's side.

The blow sent Kenpachi sprawling, yet when he hit the ground Ichigo saw that the wound was negligible.

"Why is it so hard to cut you!?" Ichigo snapped.

"My reaitsu is why." Kenpachi states. "I emit so much naturally that it blocks weak attacks and stalls strong ones. It's like having armor you can't take off."

Ichigo scowled. "I'll just have to swing harder then!"

Zangetsu laughed. "That's the spirit!"

Ichigo lunged at Kenpachi, reaitsu charged blade in mid-swing as it clashed with Kenpachi.

Then Ichigo proceeded to punch Kenpachi in the face, causing him to lose his balance.

Ichigo grinned and took the opening, lifting his blade for another slash, only to get backhanded into the air.

Not to be deterred, Ichigo fired another blast from Zangetsu in midair.

Kenpachi, not missing a beat, charged right the blast, jabbing at the airborne Ichigo as he was about to land.

Ichigo swiveled in the air to dodge it, but the tip of the blade still gave him a nasty gash in his side.

The shinigami winced in pain, as that wound was added on top of the injuries he got with Renji, but continued his fight.

Ichigo raised his zanpakuto and called upon its powers, before swinging the strongest blast he could. "Zangetsu!"

This managed to push Kenpachi back a little, and when the blast ended there was blooding trickling his wrist from where he blocked it.

"This is great!" Kenpachi laughed. "I haven't had a fight like this in years!"

"Glad to see you're enjoying yourself." Ichigo snarled. "You're really something else aren't you? I've thrown everything I've got at you and you haven't even unsealed you sword!"

Kenpachi chuckles at this, confusing Ichigo. "Did I say something funny?"

"My sword doesn't have a sealed state." Kenpachi stated.

Ichigo blinked. "What?"

"My reaitsu is so huge and uncontrollable, my sword is stuck in a permanently released form. Essentially, my sword is always in Shikai." Kenpachi explained.

"Then what's your sword's name?" Ichigo asked.

"Don't know." Kenpachi shrugged. "It was like this as soon as I got it."

Ichigo's eye twitched. Violently.

"That's not fucking fair." Ichigo thought. "Learning Zangetsu's name wasn't easy."

"That bastard." Zangetsu said darkly. "He's just ignored his Zanpakuto for so long. Make him regret it."

"Roger." Ichigo thought, clenching Zangetsu tightly.

Then they ran out of time to talk, as Kenpachi rushed forward with a jab.

Ichigo slipped to the side to avoid Kenpachi's thrust and retaliated with a thrust of his own.

Kenpachi tilted his head and let the sword pass by, before grabbing Ichigo's outstretched arm and trying to pull him in for a headbutt.

Before he could do so, Ichigo kicked him in the jaw with enough force to knock out a tooth, before jabbing at his face.

Kenpachi leaned back, narrowly avoid getting his face hacked open before slugging Ichigo in the stomach.

Ichigo gasped in pain as crashed to the floor, blood soaking into his shinigami robes as he tried to get back up.

"Fuck." Ichigo thought. "I'm losing blood fast. That fight with Renji did more damage to me than I thought."

Then Kenpachi was upon him again, sword swinging down on his prone figure.

Ichigo had managed to raise his sword to block, only for the sword to cut through a good part of Zangetsu and jam right into his chest.

A scream actually escaped Ichigo as he fell back onto his back, body going into shock and blood rapidly pooling beneath him.

"Well, kid. Thanks for the kicks." Kenpachi grinned and yanked the sword out of Ichigo's body. Hard.

Ichigo writhed in a spasm of pain, his vision going dark.

"No!" Ichigo thought. "This can't be! I can't die here! I made a promise not to die before saved Rukia! I refuse to die! Zangetsu, help!"

For a while, Zangetsu said nothing, before a dark laugh bellowed from the blade, setting off a dozen red flags in his head.

"Zangetsu?"

"Don't worry King!" Zangetsu said. " **I've got this.** "

The last thing Ichigo felt before losing consciousness was a surge of power in his body.

* * *

Kenpachi's head whipped back as he felt a surge of reaitsu explode from behind him.

He looked back to see his seemingly dead opponent back on his feet.

"What the hell?" Kenpachi thought. "He had no pulse!"

He turned around to see what was going on, only to freeze as he saw the black eyes and gold iris of a hollow on his face.

"You ready for round two?" The shinigami raised his sword with an entirely new voice.

For most people in the seireitei, the sight of this would send them fleeing in terror.

For Kenpachi, he merely gave the biggest grin of his life.

"So that's the hollow..." He thought.

* * *

"So that's the hollow..."

Mayuri's attention was focused on the girl currently glaring at her with black and gold eyes.

Even while dodging the quincy's arrows, the madman never took his eyes off her or the lights hovering around her.

"Koten Zasshun!" Orihime roared, Tsubaki speeding to him at insane speeds.

Mayuri tried to block with Ashisogi Jizo, only for the black orb to cut through the sword and the arm holding on to it in one blow. A hiss of pain left his mouth as blood poured from the wound.

In most cases, Uryuu would've been quite shocked at Orihime straight up amputating someone, however he was feeling even more hatred for the bastard, his deeds against him and his grandfather fresh in his mind.

A scattershot of arrows burst from his bow at Mayuri, who raised his hand in a stopping motion. "Bakudo 81. Danku."

A white barrier formed between Mayuri and the arrows, blocking them as he picked up his zanpakuto, and jabbed a needle into the remaining stump of his other arm, causing the flesh to bubble and regrow itself into a new appendage..

Orihime growled, guiding the fairy to strike Mayuri again, only to miss as the captain vanished via shunpo, reappearing on top of a wall.

"Bakudo 62." Mayuri stated, a blue-white glowing rod of energy generated in his hand. "Hyapporankan."

The scientist chucked the rod at Orihime and Uryuu as it multiplies into a hundred more rods, all falling down on them.

Unimpressed, Orihime raises a hand, before snarling. "Santen Kesshun!"

The orange shield covered both of them, blocking all of the rods coming down on them.

A combination of frustration and excitement was rushing through Mayuri at the amount, this girl would be one of the greatest specimen he would ever experiment on, he could tell that.

Not if only he could properly pin her, her attacking weapon was moving too fast to properly hit, and the girl herself could make that shield just as quickly-

Mayuri shunpo'd to the side as he narrowly dodged another volley of arrows from the quincy, only to get slashed by the fairy in the back, mentally noting that shield only works one way.

Right. The quincy assisting her was a problem as well.

He couldn't get close and strike with Ashisogi Jizo with that annoyance flying around, and any long range attacks would simply be blocked.

He decided to wait for the two to tire before getting a cheap shot in.

He could always use his bankai if things got real bad, though he'd rather not kill such promising specimens.

Orihime was doing substantially less thinking than Mayuri, focusing only on hacking the man up as much as possible.

Unfortunately, she was paying much less attention to her surroundings and more importantly, what was behind her.

An expert chop to the back of the neck knocked Orihime out cold, dispelling the fairies immediately and turning them back to earrings.

Uryuu's head whipped around to see the unconscious girl in Nemu's arms, who appears to have somehow recovered from her massive head trauma.

"Shit! Orihime!" The quincy cried, using Hirenkyaku to get to his teammate, only to be warded off by Nemu's blade.

"Sprout, Kareta Tane."

Nemu's blade turned green and thorns sprouted on the flat of the sword on both ends. Uryuu only had a second to see these changes before Nemu swung his sword and the thorns shot out.

Uryuu made a narrow turn, narrowly avoiding being hit by the thorns flying through the air.

His ire was stoked even higher when Mayuri shunpo'd between them and him. "About time you got up Nemu." He scoffed. "Hurry up and carry the girl to the lab, I'll take care of this nuisance."

Uryuu narrowed his eyes. " _Not happening._ " He grabbed one of the metal poles and pulled. "I'm sorry grandfather, but I'm afraid I must disobey you!" He thought as the pole snapped.

* * *

Earlier...

Clang!

Kenpachi grinned as he and Zangetsu clashed blades, a shockwave breaking the ground beneath them.

"Getsuga Tenshō!"

The area was rocked yet again as an black wave of energy erupted from Zangetsu, engulfing Kenpachi entirely.

When the attack ended, Kenpachi was knocked flat on his ass, bleeding a noticeable amount. Zangetsu capitalized on this and swung down, emulating Kenpachi's striking Ichigo when was down. Kenpachi on the other hand decided to disappoint him as he blocked the attack with his sword before deflecting it up and punching the Zanpakuto spirit in the gut, sending him flying.

Zangetsu coughed up blood, but didn't relent his attack and charged up reaitsu is his blade as he fell back down using the momentum to strike as hard as possible. Kenpachi didn't miss a beat and jumped in the air, intent on striking before Zangetsu could hit the ground, only to be caught off guard as Zangetsu hurled his sword down, the reaitsu still in it, erupting in black flames, and forming a Getsuga Tenshō with the sword at the front. The attack crashed into Kenpachi with enough force to send him right back into the ground.

Yachiru watched with a huge grin on her face, this hollow was intense! She couldn't think of any hollow that pushed Kenpachi so far.

"Damn kid." Kenpachi smirked, getting off the ground. "You're giving me the greatest fight I've had in a long time! Let's make this last!"

Despite his outrage at Kenpachi leaving his sword to the sideline, Zangetsu was enjoying this fight as well. However, he was aware that he had to end this quickly. "If you want to make this last, you'll have to do better than this!"

Kenpachi grinned, charging with his reaitsu flaring something fierce. Zangetsu merely charged as well, readying another Getsuga. The two attacks clashed, creating another shockwave, and the two swung again, only Kenpachi was quicker on the draw.

Kenpachi swing struck Zangetsu's defense…and scattered it to the winds. To say the blow knocked his Zanpakuto aside would be an understatement. Zangetsu's sword was thrown out of the way with such force that Zangetsu himself was dragged several feet sideways. Zaraki then added an absolutely vicious follow-up hit that sent Zangetsu flying into a wall.

Zangetsu quickly got back up, spinning his sword by the cloth, and radiating reaitsu. "Prepare to die."

That was the only warning before Zangetsu hurled his sword again, the sword erupting in black flames and flying toward Kenpachi. However, Kenpachi swung his sword at the blade, knocking it off course. With a smirk, Zangetsu pulled on the cloth, sending the blade flying back at Kenpachi and cutting deep into his arm, upon which the Getsuga Tenshō reacted, the explosion sending him flying.

"Hah!" Zangetsu gloated. "Suck on that!" His grin faltered a bit when he heard Kenpachi's chuckles.

"This is it…" he chuckled. "This is IT!" The chuckle rose into full blown maniacal laughter. "This is what I've been waiting for all these years! An opponent that my equal, if not better! Now..." He snatched up his nameless Zanpakuto from where it had fallen, before grabbing his eye-patch. "I can fight with no restraints at all!"

BOOM!

* * *

Momo Hinamori was not a light sleeper.

This wasn't to say that she could sleep through an earthquake or that her dreams were so deep that she could snore her way through the End of Days.

Aizen never had a problem getting her up for work and if he called for her once she was up and ready without any further prompting.

But she wasn't some princess that would toss and turn just because there was a tiny little lump in her mattress. When she went to asleep she stayed asleep.

So, when two explosions of reaitsu, one somewhat familiar and one not familiar at all crashed into her senses with all the finesse of a freight train, she, for the first time in her life, found herself flailing in her bed with a strangled scream.

When she regained her bearings, she registered the familiar reaitsu as Kenpachi's, only significantly higher than ever before. While she didn't know the battle happy captain from experience, she was aware of the reaitsu draining eye-patch he always wore, and how he only took it off when fighting particularly strong opponents.

If there was a ryoka running around in the seireitei capable of backing Kenpachi into a corner, then they really had a problem on their hands.

More disconcertingly was his opponent, she sensed the same hollow reaitsu the came crashing down into the seireitei, and it's was even darker than before.

The other fight was between what sensed was Mayuri and Nemu against some unknown and insanely powerful entity,

Like Kenpachi, the ryoka was emitting ludicrous amounts of power in continuous and relentless waves into the air without halting or hesitation, setting off Momo's senses like fireworks.

She had to do something.

"Should I warn everyone?" Momo thought. "No, that's stupid. There's no way in hell anyone's missing this. Go help? No way! I'll be killed in seconds! I'll just head to Aizen and ask what to do."

And with that, Momo dressed up in her Shinigami robes and rushed out the dorms, trying to sense her Captain. It was rather difficult to do so with two powerhouses exploding their overpowered reaitsu reserves over the whole seireitei, but she was a lieutenant for a reason.

In a under a minute, she tracked down his reitsu and ran in its direction. As she ran, she noticed that the reaitsu seemed...rather low.

"Is...Is Aizen-taicho okay?" Momo thought worriedly, before trying to shrug it off. "Of course he's okay! Don't be silly, brain! He probably just got done dealing one the other ryo-"

Momo's line of thought was put to a horrifically sudden stop as she saw something splayed across the wall.

"CAPTAIN AIZEN!"

* * *

"Ugh." Ichigo groaned as he slowly roused out of unconsciousness by the soft pitter-patter of water, pouring down all around him and even over him. "Wha…?"

Ichigo looked around, seeing light rain pouring over what he realized was his inner world. "What the? Why am I here? Why is it raining?"

"I'm afraid that is your fault."

Ichigo whipped around to see someone else in his world.

It was a tall, gruffy looking man with ragged black hair, facial hair, and sunglasses.

"Wh-who the hell..." Ichigo blinked in confusion.

"Come now, Ichigo." The man grunted. "Surely you have an idea?"

"...Another zanpakuto spirit?"

"Close, but wrong." The man stated. "I am your quincy power."

"...What?" Ichigo said in shock. "I'm a Quincy!?"

"Correct." The man replied.

" _How?_ "

"I do not know whether your parents or some other force is responsible for my existence." The man said. "All I know is that I'm a representative of your Quincy power, like Zangetsu is a representative of your Shinigami and Hollow power."

"...What?" Ichigo gaped, his shock turning to horror, the light rain suddenly getting heavier by the second. " _No._ "

"Ichigo." The quincy warned.

"No, the shaft!" Ichigo hisses through clenched teeth, flash-backing to the when he first got Zangetsu. "Fucking-!"

"ICHIGO!" Zangetsu roared, getting Ichigo's attention. "Calm yourself!"

"Calm Yourself?" Ichigo repeated incredulously. "Are you serious?! How can you say something like that and expect me to not panic?"

"Really?" The quincy stated. "You were using your powers with relative ease and skill before now. And now you suddenly aren't trusting them?"

"...It not like that." Ichigo said solemnly, the rain lightening a small bit. "It's merely the fact that I'm apparently the same species as the soul eating murder-monsters I've been killing for the last week or two, not to mention, only finding out after I got into fights with dangerous enemies."

"Fair enough." The quincy spirit stated. "Ichigo, listen. Before you think about what power you have, think about what you are."

"What I am?" Ichigo blinked in confusion.

"What have you wanted to do since you've seen ghosts." Zangetsu added.

Ichigo found that question oddly intriguing. He had little real interests that didn't involve fighting, which in hindsight explains why Zangetsu was so battle-ready all the time.

But when he really thought about it, fighting to protect was his reason for everything he's done. He dived in this mess and fought many strong people to save Rukia. He attacked any hollow that touched his sisters without mercy. He even helped the ghosts he saw on a regular basis, despite never knowing their names.

He grimaced as he remembered the reason why. A young girl about to fall in the lake. Waking up to the smell of blood that wasn't his own on his body. Rain pouring down, washing away the blood from his mothe-

"Ichigo!" The quincy's yell snapped Ichigo out of his wandering mind, and with a start he realized the rain was pouring down to the point where he could barely see the quincy. With another start, he realized that there were tears streaming down his faced along with the rain.

"Please," The quincy stated, his tone somewhat pained. "Do not open up wounds you're not ready for."

"Damn it." Ichigo growled, wiping his face and clearing the clouds somewhat.

"It'd be helpful to get those problems finished as soon as possible," The quincy sighed. "But rushing things will only do more damage."

"Man, my confrontation with Zangetsu was a lot less taxing." Ichigo groaned before frowning. "What, where is Zangetsu?"

"Fighting Kenpachi in your body." The quincy said casually.

"Oh shit right!" Ichigo paled. "I got to go!"

The quincy spirit frowned at this. "Before you do so, I need to state something."

"What?"

"You have been following what you believe is right for as long as you and I remember, and I can't go against that." The spirit stated. "But remember this, for all your willpower and strength., your recklessness will get you in trouble you simply can't fight out of."

"What do you mean?" Ichigo asked.

"You adamantly resolved to fight Jidanbo, Renji, and Kenpachi alone." The spirit stated. "Even when there were others capable of helping you."

"...Well in my defense, I needed to test out how far I've gotten against someone." Ichigo argued.

"Shouldn't everyone have?"

Ichigo frowned. "Yes...Shit, I see what you mean now."

"You have been fighting on your own for very long now." The spirit stated. "Especially since you've become a shinigami. But some enemies we will fight will be stronger than what we can handle alone. In these times, you will need to be able to rely on your friends. After all, they want Rukia okay as much as you do, do they?"

Ichigo sighed. "You're right, I've been pushing myself. It's just that-"

"You feel guilty, right?"

Ichigo nodded. "I have a debt to repay to her, she saved my life, I want to save hers."

"It's good to feel that." The spirit said. "But don't let it consume you."

Ichigo nodded, internalizing that last bit of info before calling out. "Zangetsu!"

* * *

Meanwhile, in the real world.

"Well, I'll be damned!" Zangetsu roared with a mad grin. "What crazy trick did you pull out?!"

"Heh. This is no trick!" Kenpachi taunted. "I merely got the science and research to design a power sealing device for me. Without it, I'm exponentially stronger! I have to wear it in order to make fights with weaklings interesting!"

Despite the mad grin on Zangetsu's face, he was rather concerned about his odds. The mere reaitsu Kenpachi was pouring out was threatening to crush everything in sight.

And then a familiar voice called his name in his head. "Zangetsu!"

"Ichigo, is that you?" Zangetsu said, somewhat relieved.

"Who else could it be?" Ichigo grinned. "So, what's the situation."

"Captain here had one last trick up his sleeve." Zangetsu said. "Some seal on his power that he just took off."

"We still got this." Ichigo growled. "It's two on one!"

"Hey!" Kenpachi's yell caught both their attention. "What are you blabbering about?"

"My wielder just woke up." Zangetsu stated. "I'm afraid you've just lost!"

Kenpachi scoffed. "What, because I'm outnumbered? That's never stopped me before, and it won't now!"

"Zanpakuto are mere weapons of war! The fact that your wielder needed his sword to take over for most of the fight is merely a result of a strong man that's weak in mind!"

Zangetsu and Ichigo both took great offence to that statement. "He's going down."

The quincy spirit decided to pipe up at this point. "Ichigo, Zangetsu." The two stiffened at the spirit calling them. "Calm yourselves. We are all aware he's wrong. Three people who fight together are stronger than two who do not."

Zangetsu was rather caught off guard by the quincy spirit's appearance, but quickly shrugged it off. "We shall end this in one strike."

Ichigo nodded before grabbing back control. "Come at me, Kenpachi Zaraki!"

Kenpachi obliged with a mad laugh his reaitsu increasing even further. Ichigo, Zangetsu, and the quincy all responded by charging their reaitsu as far as they could.

And right as the man was on top of them, Ichigo swung. "GETSUGA TENSHO!"

Kenpachi's reaitsu covered blade slammed into the greatest blast of reaitsu Zangestu had fired yet. A massive shockwave erupted from the collision, blasting outwards to shatter every building within it's radius.

* * *

Retsu Unohana, Captain of the 4th Division, rushed to the scene of the supposed crime, her lieutenant right behind her.

The two huge explosions of reaitsu in the distance was already enough to jerk most of the seireitei out of bed, and the piercing scream that echoed a few seconds after threw the 5th division. Most of the shinigami running around were acting as if the world was ending, then again if what they were saying was true, then they might have a point. Eventually, Unohana stopped at the scene of the crime, Momo sobbing over the corpse of Captain Aizen.

"My god." Isane gaped in horror. Even with the experience of her many centuries of healing horrid injuries, it took a good amount of effort for Isane to not turn green at the sight of the body.

Massive bites were taken out of perhaps every part of the body. Part of the skull was bitten through, leaking blood and brain mater out on the matter. His arms were bruised and resting by his head; one hand swollen to twice the size of the other and out of alignment with his wrist. The worst part was the face, everything below the eyes torn apart, to the point where the jaw and most of the neck was missing entirely, and the eyes were covered in dried blood and blank as all get out.

However, there was something about the corpse that niggled in her mind, something off about it. Whatever it was, the nigh-hysterical Vice-Captain crying over it took precedence.

Unohana walked over and shushed her softly, comforting her in her arms like a mother would a child and whispering softly in her ear. Hinamori herself didn't know how long she spent crying into the woman's chest.

"Momo!"

Hinamori jumped when she heard her childhood friend rushing toward her, Matsumoto by his side. "Shiro-chan?"

Hitsugaya didn't bother with his usual statement of, "It's Captain Hitsugaya!" Momo looked and sounded like her life was crashing down around her. Her eyes were red and swollen from crying so hard.

"Who did this?" Toshiro growled.

"Most likely the hollow that's been running around." Unohana stated evenly, carrying Hinamori in her arms.

"If we're lucky, Kenpachi's already about to kill that thing." Isane added.

Toshiro nodded darkly. "Matsumoto, can you take care of the 5th division for a bit?"

Matsumtoto nodded, completely serious and focused for once. "I got them."

Toshiro quickly grabbed Hinamori's arm. "Come on, Momo. Let's get you out of here."

Momo started to pull back, not wanting to leave her captain's body. "W-Wait!"

"No." Toshiro said. "You need to get as far away from here as possible."

"I agree." Unohana stated, dropping her back to the floor. "Plus, I need to get Aizen to check if that hollow killed him alone, or if the other ryoka helped."

Hinamori paused at first, but soon relented. "Okay."

"Good." Toshiro nodded, heading out of the crowd. "Let's go."

Before they could leave however, a huge spike of reaitsu caught everyone's attention. "What the..." Toshiro gaped.

That was all he got to say before a bright light from the 11th division blinded everyone, as the area was engulfed in reaitsu with a continuously widening ring of air racing away from it… and rapidly approaching the group.

"Minazuki!" Unohana yelled, hurling her rapidly transforming blade into the path of the shockwave. In seconds, Minazuki morphed into a green, gas-like substance before taking the solid shape of a giant, green, one eyed manta ray-like creature.

"HIT THE DECK!" Toshiro roared, creating a shield of ice to protect the shinigami along with Minazuki.

Everyone huddled behind the ice and the manta-ray just in time to not get hit by the massive shockwave that passed over them, though their ears were still clearly assaulted by the sound the explosion made.

"Minazuki, are you okay?" Unohana rushed her zanpakuto's side.

"Yeah." Minazuki winced. "Although you should warn me next time, that blast nearly knocked the wind out of me."

"I'm afraid a very powerful hollow invaded the seireitei." Unohana explained "Kenpachi went to fight it, but it appears he needed to release his eye-patch."

"The fight seems to have died down." Rangiku said with mild relief. Indeed, the huge burst of reaitsu seemed to have simmered down.

Hinamori looked at the smoking crater in the distance, hoping that Aizen was avenged.

* * *

Ichigo groaned, bleeding on the floor and staring blankly into the sky.

"Guys?" Ichigo called. "We aren't dead, right?"

"Nope." Zangestu stated. "Did we take out that Kenpachi dude?"

A dry chuckle drew the shinigami's attention, leading him to roll his and see Kenpachi looming down on him with a huge cut on his chest.

"I haven't had a thrill like that in a long time, kid." Kenpachi stated. "...You really are something, you know that?"

Ichigo chuckled at that, trying to get back up but only getting on his knees. "Dude, you have no idea."

A large grin spread on Kenpachi's face at that. "I kinda regret not talking to my sword sooner," Ichigo blinked as Kenpachi's sword cracked, and then split in half. "then it could've told me how _awesome_ this fight was." And with that, Kenpachi tipped over and fell down on his back with a crash.

Ichigo grinned. "I won."

But then his vision starts going dark, his body turning to lead. "What? Zangetsu? Old man? What's going on?"

However, when he called into his mind, ho got no response. It suddenly struck the boy that he used up more reaitsu than he should in that last attack.

"Wait, how did I know the name of that attack anyway?" He thought before his legs froze up completely.

"Shit!" He gasped, falling back down on his face. "No.."

As he lost the fight and slipped into darkness, Ichigo thought he saw something black crossing his sight.

* * *

"Good lord, Ichigo." Yoruichi groaned as she walked up to Ichigo's unconscious body. "I had a feeling you'd bump into a captain even if you tried to stay stealthy, I didn't think you'd bump into Kenpachi of all people so quickly."

Yoruichi then frowned as she registered more shinigami coming. "Welp. No time to heal you here. Just don't bleed out, hear me?"

* * *

Mayuri scowled at the situation, wondering what to do.

This last ditch technique the quincy used, Letz Stil, was absorbing the very land around them and adding it to his power.

And yet that technique wasn't the main reason he was enraged.

Nemu had been prepared to leave with the girl while he finished of the quincy, and then he could experiment with the girl's powers to his heart's content.

And then Zaraki just had to explode his irratatingly potent reaitsu over the whole seireitei. While he was able to shrug off getting hit by Zaraki's smoldering power along with the quincy's exploding outward, Nemu needed a few instants for her senses to properly register what happened. And that was more than enough for the damn ryoka to rush over, grab the girl, and knock Nemu to the ground, knocking her out.

He was going to punish Nemu most grievously after this mess was done.

He looked over the fool, putting the girl down on the wall before turning to him.

"If their is any consolation," Mayuri thought. "This will be one of the greatest research sessions I will have when I win."

"Prepare to die." Uryuu growled, reishi condensing in a arrow in his hand.

"Bakudo 61: Rikujokoro." Mayuri smirked.

Uryuu growled as 6 rods of light froze him in place, arresting his movement.

Mayuri laughed mockingly. "Your power pales in comparison to my intellect!"

Uryuu's merely narrowed, and Mayuri almost choked on his laugh when Uryuu shattered 2 rods with a flare of his reaitsu. "This will not stop me."

Mayuri resisted the urge to curse, jumping back and firing another kido. "Hado #4: Byakurai!" A blast of lightning burst from his hand, striking toward Uryuu

Uryuu merely shattered the rest of the Bakudo before shooting the arrow, blowing clean through the lightning bolt.

The arrow flew through the air, and Mayuri laughed. "It's fast, but still just a nuisance! I can easily dodge your strikes!" He cackled, easily evading with Shunpo.

The he saw Uryuu floating right above him, aiming another arrow.

"What?" Mayuri gaped. "How did he-?"

"Die."

"Oh fu-!"

Then a second arrow, launched from the air, rained down upon him and ran him through with a great explosion of blue reiatsu.

"Apologize to your victims, and never appear before me again, and I'll spare your life." Uryuu said coldly.

"FUCK IT!" Mayuri roared, now missing an arm and most of his left shoulder. "Forget live specimen! I'll kill you both and study your corpses, you cocky brat! BANKAI: KONJIKI ASHISOGI JIZO!"

His disgusting Shikai slowly bubbled upward and outward, taking the form of a hideous and massive caterpillar with the upper body of an infant. A great "halo" hovered over the baby's head, breathing a purple, and almost certainly poisonous, mist.

"Behold! Konjiki Ashisiogi Jizo!" Mayuri gestured at the grotesque Bankai, which was breathing out a purple mist. "The mist you see is a rather potent poison, made of my blood. Far more so than the ones I've used on you so far. It works through skin contact, so don't think holding your breath will save you!"

Uyruu flared his reiatsu, driving away the poisonous cloud for a moment. This was bad. He was rather sure his boosted reaitsu reserves could shrug off the effects of the poison for a while, but the same couldn't be said about Orihime.

"This might be a drain." Uryuu grimaced, pulling more reishi and reaitsu into his hand, drawing his arrows and aiming for the monster's head.

"ATTACK!" Mayuri roared, prompting the caterpillar to sprout more swords from its body and charge the quincy down.

Uryuu loosed his projectiles, as the Konjiki Ashisogi Jizo made a bullrush towards the Quincy. They collided with a colossal burst of reiatsu, rocking the seireitei with another epic explosion. When the dust cleared, the bankai was split clean down the middle and Mayuri was missing almost his entire chest area. The two pieces of the bankai crashed down to the floor before dissapainting into the sealed sword.

"Goodbye, Mayuri Kurotsuchi." Uyruu stated calmly.

"Damn you...You…think this…is over… You quincy brat? I'll fix myself up…and…come after you again." Mayuri lifted his sealed Zanpakuto and stabbed his throat with the blade.

"What?" Uryuu gaped as the captain dissolved. "Fuck!"

"One's last ace in the hole should only be used at the last moment. In this form, I can't attack you, but I remain invulnerable!" Mayuri, in his oozelike body, slowly inched away. "And even though I may not have beaten you outright, I still live, and with the poison in the air, you will die!"

Uryuu cursed as he almost fell over, a painful rasping build up in his throat and lungs, and he hocked up a splatter of blood. "No! I can't die here!"

He stumbled to Orihime, hoping he could wake her up before the poison took his life. "Orihime!"

* * *

It was pitch black for Orihime, she couldn't see a thing.

"Hello!" She called. "Tsuabaki! Ayame! Anyone!"

" **Here.** "

"Huh?" Orihime turned to see a small light. "Who are you?"

" **Not a good time to tell you.** " The familiar voice stated. " **You have someone calling you.** "

That's when Orihime heard Uryuu calling out from the light. "Orihime! Help me!"

" **You'd best return to him.** "

"Uryuu!" Orihime rushed into the light, trying to find where he is.

Right as the light was about to envelop her, she heard the voice one more time.

" **See you later...m-** "

* * *

"Orihime!"

Orihime gasped as she regained consciousness, looking up at Uryuu's face.

"U-Uryuu."

"Finally, you're u-guagh!" Uryuu suddenly puked a glob of blood.

"Uryuu!" Orihime yelped, already preparing to use her Souten Kisshun, before coughing up blood herself. "What's...happening?"

"Poison." Uryuu rasped, barely able to talk at this point. "Heal please."

Two quick Souten Kisshuns later, and Uryuu was getting back on his feet.

"You good?" Orihime asked.

"Good enough." Uryuu stated. "Let's get to the Shrine before anyone else shows up."

"I could float up there." Orihime suggested. "I don't think we could hide after that."

"...I'm afraid we'd die if we met anyone else now." Uryuu sighed.

"What?" Orihime gasped. "Why?"

"I had to use a my people's last ditch power, Letz Stil, to defeat that bastard." Uryuu admitted. "It granted me power beyond any quincy in history, but I overwhelmed my body and burnt out my ability to use my quincy power as a result. I'm merely a powerless human soul now. You'll have to fight and protect me if we get into any more fights."

"...Can I try something?" Orihime asked.

"...Try what?" Uryuu frowned.

"Could I heal the damage your...your...Lez Stal-"

"Letz Stil." Uryuu corrected, before blushing at interrupting her.

"Your quincy technique." Orihime said, giving up on pronouncing the name. "Could I heal the damage it caused?"

"...I'm not sure." Uryuu stated. "N-Not to downplay your powers Orihime, but I highly doubt it's that simple."

"It's worth a try." Orihime argued. "I mean, we can wait until we get somewhere safe before we-"

"Actually, no." Uryuu stood up. "Ichgo is going to do anything in his power to save Rukia, and I'll be damned if I don't do the same. If there is a chance I can recover my quincy powers, I'll have to try. I want to do this."

"And if it doesn't work? I'd never be mad at you for it."

Orihime grinned at that. "Okay then, Uryuu, please lie down." Ishida nodded and did so. "Souten Kisshun!" Two pieces of her hairpins glowed and transformed into Ayame and Shun'ō, who sped over to opposite ends of the Quincy, one at his feet, the other at his head. Inoue knelt and put her hands on the barrier it created, closing her eyes.

A mild grimace spread on her face when she felt the damage. "Wow, that's really bad." She thought. "Can I fix this?"

"Not impossible," Ayame said. "But this might take a while."

Orihime's power quickly went to work, as the Letz Stil outfit dissipated and returned to the normal sanrei glove.

About a minute later, the two faeries rose and returned to Orihime's hairpins.

"Did it work?" Uryuu asked.

"I think it did." Orihime said.

Uryuu took a deep breath. "OK." He raised his right arm, and tried to focus reishi in his hand. The glove worked as good as new and an arrow formed in his hand like always.

"Yes!" Orihime pumped a fist, before stumbling as the multiple rejections took their toll on her.

The Quincy turned and caught Orihime before she hit the ground. "Thank you, Orihime… I fear I can never repay you."

Orihime stood back up and gave the quincy a thumbs up. "Your welcome, now let's get Rukia back!"

Uryuu obliged and headed off with Orihime to find Rukia. Although despite his gratefulness to Orihime for restoring his powers, he can't help but feel guilt running down his back.

"Grandfather, I'm sorry." He thought. "I used the power of Letz Stil in rage and vengeance, and needed my friend to help me after it."

Uryuu then resolved himself. "I only hope we can get to Rukia without anymore violence."

However, even this hope was quickly dashed, as Orihime pales upon seeing a black man with dark brown braids, and more terrifyingly, a captain haori.

"Forgive me, ryoka." The captain stated, drawing his zanpakuto. "But I must destroy you both, in the name of justice."

"Oh shit." Uryuu thought, preparing an arrow and aiming at the captain, while Orihime made a Santen Kesshun shield to block whatever crazy power the sword would unleash on them.

"Cry, Suzumushi."


	5. Race Against Time

Orihime was not having a good day.

In retrospect, "not having a good day" was an incredible understatement of how horrific her trip to the Seireitei has been. Even excluding the battle with Mayuri, which was already by far the worst experience of her life, between Rukia's death sentence, being shot out of a cannon, and nearly getting her throat cut open, she was just about sick of the Seireitei.

And if the black man in a captain's haori walking toward them was any indication, things were about to get even worse.

"Cry, Suzumushi."

As soon as the man said the words, a wave of vertigo slammed into her and Uryū through the shield, nearly knocking them both out on the spot.

"Wha.." Orihime gasped, drawing on her reiatsu to stay on her feet. Black trickled back into her eyes as she stood back up.

Tōsen frowned as he felt Orihime's reiatsu darken in a familiar. "What is this? I thought Ichigo would be the one wielding hollow powers. Aizen stated so." He shook his head. "No matter. She still can't beat me."

A casual flick of his sword deflected an arrow from Uryū. "Please do not struggle. I have no intention of causing you more pain than necessary."

Uryū swore, barely believing their luck. "To run into a captain just after we beat another! I have to use Letz Stil again." Swallowing a second surge of guilt, he reached for his glove, ready to pull off the spikes.

"I'm afraid not." Tōsen frowned as he activated his sword's ability again. "Fall."

Uryū and Orihime dropped to the ground, the sound waves of Suzumebachi knocking both out.

"Forgive me Ryoka." Tōsen stated evenly. "But your struggle will soon be over."

* * *

"Ugh..." Ichigo groaned as he found himself laying on a mat. "What happened?"

"A captain happened." A familiar voice stated. Ichigo rolled his head to his side to see Chad. "Yoruichi found you and a captain unconscious in the 11th division."

"Before you ask, yes, I tried to use stealth." Ichigo frowned. "Unfortunately, one of the pricks that nabbed Rukia in the first place caught me, and the ensuing fight drew Kenpachi."

"It's fortunate that I found you when I did." Ichigo turned his head to the other side to see Yoruichi, a small mask on the floor beside him, white with tribal-like markings originating from the eyehole. "You were bleeding out pretty badly. It's only because of this that you even survived your trip here."

Ichigo stilled as saw the hollow mask, remembering his zanpakto's apparent hollowness. He quickly started to call out in his head. "Zangetsu! You there!?"

A calm voice replied, much to Ichigo's relief.. "We are here."

" **Urgh...Our head's killing me**." Zangetsu replied, more to Ichigo's relief.

"Glad to see you're all still around." Ichigo thought, before cutting to the chase. "So Zangetsu. When where you going to tell me that I was part hollow?"

"Ah. Right." Ichigo could feel the sword spirit laugh sheepishly and scratch his head. "Planned to tell you, but you showed your opinion on them."

"Because most of them I've seen have tried to eat me, my friends, or my family." Ichigo argued.

"It matters not." The Quincy spirit interrupted. "You are now aware, and more important issues, at least to you, are now apparent."

Ichigo paled. "Right, Rukia!" He quickly snapped out of his daze and looked at Yoruichi. "Yoruichi! How long till Rukia's execution?!"

"Roughly a week." Yoruichi answered, to Ichigo's alarm.

"What?!" Ichigo gaped as he leapt up, only to fall down in pain. "Fuck!"

"I'm sorry, Ichigo, but there was no time to wait for you to heal completely." Yoruichi explained slowly. "We barely have enough time to get you to Byakuya's level in a week."

"Damn," Ichigo growled. "I knew this wouldn't be easy, but I thought we were prepared for this."

"Kisuke and I prepared you guys to fight lieutenants and those below them. And then get strong enough to hold the captains off while you escaped. " Yoruichi explained. "You weren't supposed to seriously fight the captains at all. But you blasting apart the Seki-Seki barrier tipped everyone off that you weren't normal ryoka."

"That reminds me." Ichigo paled. "Where's everyone else?"

Yoruichi swallowed. She hoped that Ichigo didn't charge out when he heard this. "Chad's downstairs training. Ganju and Hanataro are heading towards the tower. As for Orihime and Uryuu, I don't know."

Ichigo's eyes widened in fear. " _You don't know?!_ "

"We were split up." Yoruichi argued. "And I had to make sure that Chad and I didn't get caught immediately."

" _Crap._ " Ichigo groaned as he processed the information. "We have to find Ganju and Hanataro."

"I'll find those two." Yoruichi argued. "You'll never survive a second encounter with a captain as you are now. You need to get better, and quickly."

"Wait, how am I supposed get as strong as Byakuya in a week?" Ichigo frowned.

"...Something you really shouldn't get this quickly," Yoruichi admits. "It is called a bankai. The second release of the zanpakuto."

"Zangetsu." Ichigo thought. "Is this true?"

" **Yep.** " Zangetsu stated. " **It's basically a built-in upgrade of your normal abilities in shikai.** "

"Why didn't Urahara get me this?" Ichigo growled. "Or even mention it?"

"Because gaining a Bankai usually takes years of communicating and understanding the Zanpakuto." Yoruichi explained. "Urahara found a way around that, but it's extremely dangerous, and we'd rather not risk killing you a second time after the 'find the shinigami powers or hollowfy' thing. You've been lucky, but it be really stupid to push your luck and kill you before we got to Seireitei."

Ichigo sighed. "No point bitching about it now." He thought before speaking. "OK. What is this super dangerous training?"

"We'll get to that in due time." Yoruichi stated. "We really need to fix you up first. It will take my true form to accomplish this."

"True form?" Ichigo thought before steam started rising from the cat's body. Ichigo's jaw then drops as the cat transforms into a dark-skinned, very voluptuous, very _naked_ woman.

"Wh-what the fuck?!" Ichigo gaped, covering his eyes in shock and embarrassment.

"What?" Yoruichi smirked, stretching her body out. "You don't like what you see?"

"You..." Ichigo spluttered. "YOU PUT SOME CLOTHES ON RIGHT NOW!"

"Really? You don't want to see a hot young girl like me-

 **"NOW!"**

"Party pooper." Yoruichi pouted, leaving the room to do just that.

" **Yeah, seriously. What a killjoy**." Zangetsu groaned, causing Ichigo's eye to twitch.

"This is not the time for joking around." The Quincy spirit admonished. "We have important matters to get to."

* * *

A while later...

Ichigo gave a confused look at the vaguely Human-shaped, man-sized doll Yoruichi is holding. They were currently in a sealed mountain range far off from the normal barracks. Chad was currently trying to push his armored arm to its limits in a fool proof plan. Use it until you run out of reaitsu, wait till you get it back, rinse and repeat until deadline.

"So this is the bankai device?" Ichigo asked Yoruichi. "How does it work?"

"To achieve a bankai, one must establish a connection with the sword and materialize the spirit in order to force it into submission." Yoruichi explained. "The Tenshintai forces the Zanpakuto spirit into the real world stabbed. The shinigami can then force it into submission like normal."

"Makes sense so far." Ichigo said. "But you already said there was a catch. What is it?"

"First of all, the artifact only works for three days at a time, so you'll have only 2 chances to get it, 3 if we're lucky." Yoruichi stated. "Second, most bankai requires 10 years of training to master, so you'll probably have trouble wielding it at first. Third and finally, the Zanpakuto can and _will_ kill you if you let it."

"Wait, what?!" Ichigo roared in shock. "Why?!"

"Danger to life causes your reaitsu to spike. "This makes it easier to get to a level required for Bankai."

Ichigo sighed in irritation. "Is it just me, or is everything trying to kill me?"

Yoruichi shrugged. "Rescue missions in enemy territory tend to have that situation. I speak from experience. Now, go get your bankai. I'll get your friends." And with that she dissapeared.

Ichigo proceeded to run the doll through with Zangetsu. "I need your help guys."

With a surge of power and black flash, two figures emerged from the Tenshintai. Zangetsu and the Quincy spirit.

"You guys heard everything?" Ichigo asked.

" **Yep**." Zangetsu stated with a smirk, tapping his foot and making an array of a swords pop out of the ground.

"Prepare yourself, Kurosaki Ichigo." The Quincy spirit stated. "In this array of blades, resides the true Zangetsu, the rest are mere fakes."

" **To force us into submission, you'll have to find 'me' and cut us both down with it.** " Zangetsu added. " **Think you can pull that off king?** "

"Not much of a choice **.** " Ichigo stated. "Rukia needs me. Uryuu and Orihime need me. Ganju and Hanataro need me. And I won't let any of them down."

"Well said." The Quincy spirit said, picking a sword out of the ground. "Shall we begin?"

"Oooh." Zangetsu grinned. " **I'm gonna enjoy this."**

And with that, the two spirits touched, and began to merge. The Shinigami looked at the merging critically, trying to figure out which personality would emerge triumphant over the other. But when the resulting spirit walked out, Ichigo could not help but gasp.

The spirit had Zangetsu's general appearance, giant cleaver, and amber eyes, but the Quincy spirit had had his own influence on the form as well. He had the spirit's dark cloak, glasses, and black hair.

" _ **Come at me, Ichigo!**_ "

* * *

Meanwhile...

The 4th division had been overrun as of late. Almost all the 11th division members had been flooding the barracks, Kenpachi included. The sheer amount of unconscious shinigami swamped the medical station. However, a certain 3rd seat was currently irritated by an entirely different issue.

"Can someone tell me..." Yasochika Iemura growled in his head, making various reports on the many people layed out on hospital beds, two of which being his ultimate aggravation. "Why are we treating the _Ryoka?_ Especially after what they've _done?_ "

"Captain Tousen did." A random nurse stated. "Captain Ukitake did as well. You're thinking out loud again."

"...I know that Tousen dislikes killing," Yasochika argued. "But he should know that Aizen's death makes this invasion something that must be stopped."

"We need to know why they came here." The other man added. "And how they destroyed the barrier. And about the hollow that came with them."

Yasochika sighed. "This has been a clusterfuck of epic proportions. Aizen's dead. Mayuri was nearly killed as well. A Captain level hollow is still skulking around the seireitei. This can't possibly get worse."

* * *

Hinamori finds herself running around with supplies of medical equipment to the various rooms that need them.

Ever since Aizen's death, Momo's day had been absolute chaos. Toshiro and the other captains were assigned to a meeting tonight about the Ryoka invasion, and she, along with the rest of the 5th division, had been assigned to help the 4th division with the massive amount of defeated shinigami flooding the barracks.

"Thank you, lieutenant Hinamori." A nurse said as Momo handed her some gauze for a patient, before growing concerned about her. "Are you alright?"

"Yes." She said simply, although her appearance said otherwise. Her hair was disheveled, her eyes were still swollen from crying, and she merely looked miserable and beat down. She didn't seem to notice how horrible she looked considering her hard working, but the nurse felt she needed to do something.

"I think you coul use a rest." The nurse pressed. "You look terrible."

"Th-Thank you, but I'm fine." Hinamori objects and before the nurse could say anything else, she walked out.

It wasn't very long after before tears came streaming back down Hinamori's eyes as she slumped against the wall of one of the few empty hallways. The visage of her captain's mutilated body danced across her vision even now as she sobbed in her arms.

"Hinamori?"

The lieutenant stilled as a voice called out to her. Rubbing her eyes she saw Gin looking at her with a uncharacteristically grim look on his face.

"Captain Ichimaru?" Hinamori asked, before trying to apologize. "I'm sorry for looking like this captain. I just-"

"It's about Aizen isn't it?" Gin stated.

A choked sob came out of Momo's as she nodded.

"It's okay." Gin said solemnly. "I was his lieutenant before you, so I know what the Soul Society lost when the man died just as much as you do."

"I-It's alright." Hinamori smiled at the man that used to give her the creeps like nothing else. "At the very least Kenpachi avenged him."

"...About that." Gin stated. "We think the Hollow's still alive."

Momo felt her stomach drop to the ground. "What?"

"Kenpachi wasn't awake for long when the scouts found him, but it was clear that any damage he gave the beast wasn't fatal. The hollow didn't get away unscathed, but it isn't dead either."

A look of horrified outrage swelled in Hinamori at this statement. "It's still-Why aren't any of you doing anything?!"

"This thing took out Aizen, fought Kenpachi to a standstill, and managed to stay under the radar despite the fact that everyone's looking for it." Gin explained. "I don't think we can just go snooping around the Seireitei to find this thing without a shitload more casualties."

"This...This can't be happening!" Momo cried out, rage clear in her features. "I have to do something!"

"Well the ryoka that let that thing loose in here is heading for the Palace of Penitence." Gin suggested. "Byakuya's planning to head there himself but more help would be rather appreciated as of now."

Now with a outlet to channel her grief, Momo quickly rubbed her face and dashed off, a glare on her face.

Back in the hallway, Gin dispelled the kido on the hallway, revealing it to the world again. "Like a goddamn fiddle." Gin thought as his grin came back in full force. "I still got it."

* * *

Renji groaned as consciousness drifted back into him. It took a moment to realize he was in the 4th division. "What the hell happened?" Then a pain radiated from from his arms and chest and he remembered. "Oh." He thought, memories of an orange haired punk with a talking sword came to him. "That's why."

 _"Nobody will die on my watch! I'll stand and beat any opponent that tries to hurt my friends!"_

Renji scowled as Ichigo's voice echoed in his head.

 _"Why would you care after you all sentenced her to death?!"_

"Because I never wanted her dead in the first place." Renji thought. "When...When did we drift apart so much?"

For the life of him, he could no longer truly remember.

And that scared him like nothing's ever scared him before.

His fear then morphed into cold resolve.

"Zabimaru." He called.

A white baboon with a snake tail manifested ontop of him.

"What do you want?" The baboon demanded.

"When I'm healed, I'm going to take your challenge." Renji stated.

"About damn time, you lazy bastard." The snake grinned savagely. "Although, you do know you'll have all of seireitei gunning for you if you do what you're planning."

"Yes."

The baboon grinned as well.

"When you are ready,"

"Summon us again, Renji Abarai."

Renji closed his eyes and drifted back into sleep. "I'm going to do what I should've done from the beginning. I'm kicking Byakuya's ass, and I'm saving Rukia's."

* * *

"Uggh." Orihime moaned as she came to. The first thing she noticed is that she was in her spirit world, the doors of the castle right in front of her. "Oh good. I'm not dead. I think."

The second thing was her world seemed noticeably darker, as if the sun was being blotted out somewhat. Looking up, she saw that nothing was blotting out the sun. It merely looked darker.

She quickly got up, trying to look around for her spirits. "Baigon? Ayame? Tsubaki? Anyone?"

" **They can't hear you.** " A cold, but familiar voice rung out behind her, causing her to freeze. Turning around, she saw a bleached white form of Orihime glaring a hole through her face with amber eyes. It looked particularly intimidating on Orihime's face, as until a few hours ago, she never looked angry at all.

"It's...It's you." Orihime said timidly, fear choking her voice somewhat. She could tell this was her other self, Shun Shun Rikka. She had been told by her spirits that her other self had intentions of taking over her body if she didn't meet her standards, and she could tell by the glare the bleached her was giving her that she most certainly did not. "Where are the others?

" **In the castle.** " The Shun Shun Rikka stated, pointing up at the castle. " **And they're going to stay in the castle until this little matter is done.** " Donning a cold smirk, she took a step forward, causing Orihime to pale.

"Wait." Orihime asked as she backed into the door, hoping to reason with the other her. "Can we talk about this?"

" **What is there to talk about?** " Shun Shun Rikka replied, walking up to Orihime and grabbing her by the shoulders. " **You're not strong enough to help Ichigo, so I'm putting you in time out.** "

Orihime paled further as black reaitsu seethed through _Shun Shun Rikka_ 's hands, digging into her flesh. "Weak?" She wailed in panic and indignation. "I've been training to fight by Kurosaki-kun's side since Rukia was kidnapped!"

" **And how much have you done?** " Shun Shun Rikka rebutted, causing Orihime to freeze. " **You got separated from Ichigo before you even got here. And then you nearly got killed twice over by that giant fool.** "

Orihime felt a stab of embarrassment at remembering that little incident.

" **First you nearly got crushed to a pulp by him before you even noticed he was there.** " Shun Shun Rikka scoffs. " **And after you and Uryuu get him on the ropes you _heal_ him and nearly get your throat torn out.**"

Orihime felt her stomach drop.

" **Then you bump into Captain Psycho-Doctor and you really started fucking up.** " Shun Shun Rikka sneered.

"What?" Orihime growled. "I helped Uryuu fight that monster!"

" **Yeah,** " Shun Shun Rikka retorted. " **You also got knocked out while using my power, dropped by a single chop to the neck.** "

That quickly shut Orihime up.

" **And by the time you get back up, with my help by the way, you and Uryuu were about to die from poison.** " Shun Shun Rikka mocked. " **And literally right after that, you get knocked out by a second captain without so much as a whimper. You say that you want to help Ichigo, but so far, you've only proven that I need to be in charge!** "

Tears stream down Orihime's face as her feet started disappearing into the ether. She understood why the fairies didn't want the two to meet too soon. "W-Wait." Orihime made one last attempt to stop her powers from taking her over. "I didn't do that bad! I save Uryuu twice in that fight."

" **He had to sacrifice his powers to save yours.** " Shun Shun Rikka retorted, although interested in Orihime showing backbone. " **He had no idea that you could even bring them back!** "

"I know!" Orihime yelled, her disintegration spreading to her legs. "But I did! If it weren't for me, Uryuu would've never gotten his powers back! I may not be strong enough to beat these guys, but I don't need to be! We came here to save Rukia as a team! That's how we'll do it!"

 **"Is that so?** " Shun Shun Rikka asked. " **Why do you want to save her so much? Is it because Ichigo wants to?** "

Orihime stilled, her disintegration having come all the way up to her abdomen area. "...I won't deny that's part of the reason. But I have others! Rukia was my friend too! I didn't know her as I should, but she and Ichigo helped me with my brother! They saved my life! And Rukia doesn't deserve to be punished for saving Ichigo's!" Her eyes narrowed, getting in her bleached mirror's face. "And if you want to him, help me stand with him!"

"Hmm." Shun Shun Rikka smiled, taking her hands off Orihime. "Guess I'll try. But the second you become to much of a nuisance I'm taking over!"

Orihime sighed in relief as body quickly came back. "Thank you for the second chance! I won't waste it! Now, can we see the others?"

"Yes." Shun Shun Rikka agreed, opening the doors and walking in, Orihime right behind her.

* * *

Rukia looked out the window of her cell, pondering her predicament.

She should have known that Ichigo would come to help her no matter what, but even so, she never could have predicted the chaos he and his friends would make. Destroying the Seki-Seki barrier in the arrival alone ruffled a few feathers on its own no doubt. And while she couldn't know for sure, she felt enough surges of reaitsu to think at least 1 captain had been defeated.

"Damnit Ichigo," Rukia thought as she grabbed her throbbing chest, a chest that was beating particularly hard as of late. "I didn't want you to save me! I came here to my death to keep you out of trouble!"

A fleeting memory of her sword stained in a close friend's blood screamed in her vision, his body mangled by the machinations of the sickest hollow she had the displeasure of slaying.

She shook the painful memory out of my head, her heart throbbing more painfully than ever. "Kaien, why does everyone I grow close to face such dangers? Why do they all die for me?"

"Hey Rukia!" A voice called out, shocking her out of her thoughts. "We're here to help bust you out!"

"They actually got to me!?" She thought in utter shock. A thrill of hope went soaring through her that she immediately stamped down on. "They'll never leave alive." She quickly turned, intending to try and talk some sense into them and get them to leave and save themselves.

She then proceeds to freeze at the sight and who managed to get to him. Hantaro, the 4th division member that she talked to a while ago...and a man with the Shiba symbol on his arm.

"Ooohh..." Rukia thought, her repressed hope dashed near instantly. "Oh nooo..."

"Rukia!" Hanataro called out. "It's me, Hanataro! You remember me, right?"

"Of course." Rukia said quickly, trying very hard to still the rising panic in her chest. "What are you...doing here?"

"We came to rescue you!" Hanataro said, running over and holding Rukia's hands. "Come on Ganju, let's...get...going?" Hanataro paused, seeing shock and horror in Ganju's face. "Ganju, are you alright?"

Rukia's stomach proceeded to drop even further as the name instantly set off alarms in her head. "Ganju..." She rasped, barely daring to breathe, seeing her past come to haunt her full force. "Kaien's brother?"

Hanataro swallowed his breath, seeing that things had gotten tense out of nowhere. "Wait...do you two know each other?"

"Yes, I know her." Ganju stated, his face going from shock and horror to a murderous grin.

Visions of Sode no Shirayuki coated in Kaien's blood danced back into Rukia's thoughts, suddenly more vivid than ever. Ganju clenches his fists, the same visions going through his head. "How could I forget... the face of the Shinigami that killed my brother!"

"What?" Hanataro gaped, the accusation coming completely out of left field. "You must be mistaken, Ganju. Rukia would never murder someone without reason."

"His wounds were given by a sword." Ganju growled. "His throat was cut open and his chest was as well. Those wounds weren't that of a hollow!" His voice rose to a roar. "She even confessed. She said she killed him, _right to my face!_ "

"That's...That's impossible!" Hanataro yelled in protest.

"It's alright, Hanataro." Rukia said, putting a hand on Hanataro's shoulder. "He speaks the truth."

Hanataro turned back to Rukia, shock clear on her face. "But-How?"

Rukia took a step forward, very aware of what the man wanted. If she was going to die, she should at least die for killing Kaien than for saving Ichigo's life, she thought. "I...I am the one that killed Kaien Shiba."

Ganju quickly rushed over and grabbed Rukia by the neck, murder in his mind. "Go ahead. If you want to kill me, I have no right to object."

"Agreed!" Ganju snapped, tightening his grasp.

"Wait, no!" Hanataro gasped, trying to stop the early execution. "Ganju, please stop! We're here to _save_ Rukia, remember?!"

"I DON'T CAR-" Ganju's enraged retort quickly cuts itself off as two reaitsu's slammed into everyone's senses. One was completely overpowering, and terrifying familiar for Rukia. The other was not nearly as strong, but what it lacked in talent it made up for in rage, a feeling of dread and barely restrained violence crept up everyone's spines as they felt it.

"Oh crap." Went through the minds of the three there.

"Brother..." Rukia gasped, horror thrashing through her anew.

"Brother..." Hanataro paled. "Byakuya Kuchiki?"

"The captain of the 6th division and head of one of the 4 noble clans, the Kuchiki clan to be precise." Ganju paled as well. "Not the strongest captain, but arguably the most popular. He's way more powerful than all us combined. But whose that behind him?"

It was at this point everyone noticed a young lady with black hair in a bun, and brown eyes in a monstrous glare was walking behind him.

"Momo?" Hanataro gasped.

"Who?" Ganju growled as the two shinigami drew closer.

"She's the lieutenant of the 5th division." Hanataro said. "She seems really mad about something though."

"Well shit." Ganju grimaced. "A captain alone would slaughter us with ease, let alone with a lieutenant by his side. Maybe we should just get on our knees and beg for forgiveness right now."

"Wait what!? No!" Hanataro objected. "We can't give up yet! Rukia needs us! We could just run!"

"Run!" Ganju roared. "Where the hell could we possibly go?! The only exit is the bridge! And why the hell should I risk my life anymore for that bitch?!" He pointed at Rukia accusingly, who looked down in shame. "For the woman that murdered my brother!?"

"...I understand." Hanataro said, somewhat surprising Ganju. "Ichigo said that you wanted to come to see why he and Rukia were different from other shinigami, and if there are any, neither you nor I have found them. It would be asking too much to stay here against such odds for someone you don't like. But at the very least, take Rukia with you when you go."

"...What are you talking about Hanataro?" Rukia asked.

"I-I'll stay and h-hold them off here." Hanataro said, hands shaking like leaves.

"...Are you insane?!" Ganju stated. "You can't fight those two! Do you feel that power?!"

"Y-Yes! I do! But I c-came all the way u-up here to s-save R-Rukia's life. How c-could I give on h-her now?!" Hanataro argued before giving a huge gulp and walking out. "W-Wish me g-good luck!"

"Hanataro no!" Rukia cried out. "You! Stop him!"

"That idiot!" Ganju thought, glaring at the shaking boy walking out the door. "He's practically walking to his death! And he's terrified!" Ganju started running out. "Who does he think he is, acting so tough?!"

"Ganju!" Hanataro blinked in confusion, before squeaking as he grabbed him. "What are you-?!"

"Sorry about this!" Ganju yelled out, before chucking the kid back into the shrine.

Momo, who had seen the action, assumed Hanataro was being held hostage, and immediately sprung into action. "Snap! TOBIUME!"

Ganju barely had time to put up a wall of sand before a fireball nearly knocked him to his feet. "Damn. Sorry Kaien." Ganju thought, knowing exactly how screwed he was. "Avenging your death has probably been postponed indefinitely. If you want someone to blame, blame sis for not raising me to be a coward who would run out on his friends."

"It's your lucky day bitches!" Ganju proclaimed. "I'm the one you're going to be fighting now!"

Hinamori glared daggers at the man. "Who are you?!"

"Ganju Shiba!" Ganju declared, breathing heavily. "Damn." He thought. "The captain hasn't even done anything, and I'm still having trouble standing up."

Byakuya's eyes narrowed. "The Shiba clan has been meddling in affairs too great for their fallen status for a while now, but this is unprecedented. Do you think you can interfere with the prisoner's execution with your level of power?"

Rukia scowled, starting to run towards the bridge. "Screw this. I'm already responsible for Kaien's death! I'm not letting his brother die for me!"

"Rukia, wait!" Hanataro called out, rushing toward her. He needed not bother however, as Rukia suddenly collapsed.

"What?" Rukia rasped. "Why can't I-" She suddenly remembered that she spent almost a month in a prison made of Seki-Seki. "Oh right. _Fuck._ "

Ganju charged, reaching into his pocket. "Taste my tears of blood-"

 _"_ Carriage of thunder! Divide into twelve! Rikujōkōrō!" Momo cut him off

Ganju barely had the time to breathe before twelve light beams slammed into his midsection and stopped him in his tracks. Suddenly he couldn't move at all. Even breathing took a serious effort. "Fuck!" He snapped, trying to move to no avail. "Twelve light beams? I thought there were only 6?" He thought, although his thoughts were quickly derailed, as with a blink, Byakuya flickers right in front of Ganju, looking at his face with contempt. "Well shit," Ganju chuckled sheepishly. "Gonna kill me?"

"My blade is not for cutting down insects." Byakuya stated, his tone flat and emotionless. "If you by some miracle defeat Hinamori, I might raise my blade against you."

Before Ganju could make a retort, Hinamori proceeded to slip Tobiume in between his ribs. "Gah!"

"Where is it?" Hinamori growled.

"Where's what?" Ganju asked in confusion.

"Tsuzuri Raiden!"

"GAAAH!" Ganju roared in pain, lightning lancing through his body.

"The hollow." Hinamori said coldly. "Where. _Is it?_ "

"I don't know-GAAARGH!" Ganju roared as more electricity surged through him. "I seriously don't know what you're talking about, dammit!"

"Liar!" Hinamori snapped, pouring more reaitsu into the kido. "There's no way you didn't sense what we did!"

Ganju closed his eyes, bracing himself for a another violent shock to come his way, only to hear a surprised gasp instead. Opening them back up, he gaped seeing Kaien's captain, Jūshirō Ukitake holding the blade, somehow stopping the kido with his bare hands.

"That was way too close for comfort," Ukitake sighed before frowning at Momo and Byakuya. "Can you two please explain to me why Momo's released her Zanpakuto right in front of the Shrine of Penitence? Or the impromptu interrogation?"

"Captain!" Rukia breathed in mixed shock and relief.

Ukitake's sudden appearance managed to snap Hinamori out of her rage, although she still wasn't backing down. "This guy kidnapped one of the 4th division members and dragged him up here to bust out Rukia!"

"And besides," Byakuya added. "Zanpakuto use is more than allowed in Wartime exemption."

Ukitake's face was tense. "Wartime exemption? Have things gotten this bad?"

"I apologize. Things weren't meant to be nearly as chaotic as it is now."

A person swooped across the bridge like swift invisible wind, grabbing Ganju and flying off with the technique of a bird of prey. It took Momo a good three seconds to register Ganju not being impaled on her sword. "What the..."

A familiar reaitsu caught Byakuya and Ukitake's senses and they turned in a seemingly random direction. Doing the same, everyone saw the dark skinned woman carrying the injured Shiba clan member, who was currently unconscious, under her arm.

"Long time no see Byakuya boy." Yoruichi gloated. "And Ukitake as well."

"...Yoruichi." Ukitake stated, stone-faced. "Former captain of the 2nd division. It was you that brung the hollow that killed Aizen here?"

"Technically, Urahara did." Yoruichi stated, deliberately not wanting to give Ichigo away. "And as for Aizen, I highly doubt he's dead yet."

Hinamori felt a small surge of hope which was quickly overshadowed by rage and denial. "Liar!" Hinamori snapped. "I saw the body with my own eyes! And even then, Tousen's report explicitly stated the Quincy and his adversary tried to kill Mayuri! Why wouldn't Aizen be the same?"

"I'm not going to answer that." Yoruichi stated, rushing off with Shunpo. "None of you would believe the answer, not without proof anyway way."

"Enough." Byakuya stated, shunpoing to the spot Yoruichi was. "Whatever your reasons are, neither you nor any of your associates will leave here alive."

"Really?" A smirk slipped onto Yoruichi's face at the statement. "If I remember, you've never caught me once in all our games of catch."

"Shall we give it another try then?"

With that statement, the chase was on. The two captains blurred across the bridge, their Shunpo and natural speed allowing them to rush around the area as too fast for Hanataro, and Hinamori to see. However, Ukitake, and to a lesser extent Rukia was able to see that Yoruichi was winning. Everytime Byakuya was catching up Yoruichi used a burst of speed to slip out of his grasp. And the few hits he did get were merely on afterimages.

Eventually, Yoruichi decided to go, smiling cheekily and waving. "You have 3-6 days until Ichigo returns stronger than you, Byakuya-boy. Prepare for then!" And with that she dissapeared. "Bye!"

Enraged, Byakuya threw out his senses as to find the infuriating woman, only to see nothing.

"This is urgent." Byakuya stated to Ukitake, before walking off in frustration. "We've had enough problems with merely the ryoka themselves, and now they have help from the former captains of 2 and 11. The other captains must be briefed on this."

"Indeed." Ukitake stated, albeit confused by Yoruichi's statement. "Why would she doubt Aizen's dead? Could she have lied to get them a lesser sentence? If she did, why didn't she deny Mayuri's murder attempt as well?"

"Rukia!" His attention was then drawn to Rukia and Hanataro, the former of which had fallen to the ground in a heap. "All the tension must have left her body after Byakuya left." He thought. Deciding to put his thoughts on the back burner for now, he called out for his squad members. "Kiyone! Sentaro!"

* * *

That night.

Uryuu murmured as he got up, his head killing him.

"You're awake!" A familiar voice called.

"Orihime?" Uryuu looked around, seeing Orihime. "Were are we-"

His heart sunk as he noticed the moon shining through a window, revealing that they were in a small room with bars. "We got captured, didn't we?"

"Yep." Orihime smiled sadly. "I woke up here too. At least we're alive."

Uryuu frowned. "Wait, why _are_ we alive?" He looked over his body, and noticed the bandages and wrappings on himself. "Why would they want to keep us alive, let alone treat our injuries? We intruders and the enemy aren't we?"

"...They think we murdered someone." Orihime replied.

"What?"

"I overheard a conversation with the guards." Orihime explained. "Apparently, a captain was killed by a hollow within the Seireitei. Since we're intruders here, that would obviously make us prime suspects."

"We've been kept alive for investigation." Uryuu frowned, clearly not happy with the situation.

"Fortunately, that means we're alive." Orihime added, holding up her hands and showing off the cuffs. "Once we take these reaitsu sealing handcuffs off, we'll be able to get out and hopefully find Ichigo and the others."

"How?" Uryuu thought. "We don't know the layout of this place."

"It took 2 captains fighting us back to back to get caught and if the rumors are right, all of them are heading for a meeting right now." Orihime replied. "If we have any chance of leaving, it's right now." She then gestured. "Do you have a sewing needle or a hairpin on you?"

"What?" Uryuu blinked, caught off guard by the out of nowhere question. "Why?"

"In a movie Tatsuki and I saw," Orihime explained. "A burglar pickpockets a lock with just a hairpin. I'm going to try that."

"...Orihime." Uryuu said sternly. "You are aware that the movie was most likely _fiction_ right?"

"Considering we're in a jail cell in samurai heaven and we have superpowers ripped straight out of anime, and I recently used my powers to bring yours back after you used a dangerous forbidden technique of your people, also ripped straight out of anime, to beat up also a mad scientist who is also an abusive father on the side that wiped out almost all of them in a manner that would make Adolf Hitler wet himself," Orihime deadpanned. "I think pickpocketing a handcuff would be the least crazy thing we've done yet in our time here."

Unable to form a counter to that statement, Uryuu dug through his pockets, eventually finding a sewing needle in his back pocket and giving it to Orihime.

"Let's see if this works!" Orihime stated, pushing the tip of the needle into the keyhole.

Despite Orihime's assurance, Uryuu wasn't very confident that the plan would work. "After all," Uryuu thought. "These are handcuffs made to seal shinigami no doubt. It would be a huge flaw if someone could break out of those things with just a-"

Click!

To Uryuu's pleasant surprise, the needle indeed worked. The handcuff came off with a pop, and Orihime quickly got to the other one with much more fervor.

"Wow!" Orihime exclaimed, jiggling with the second cuff. "I wasn't all that sure this was gonna work!"

"Wait, you weren't sure?" Uryuu frowned. "Why bring it up then?"

"It was worth a shot." Orihime replied. "We came here to save Rukia, and we can't do that here. Ichigo would probably save us if we need him to, but we really should be able to save ourselves. And besides, these guys need us to an extent, so they probably wouldn't kill us for one escape attempt."

Eventually, the second cuff came off, and Orihime quickly put her hands to her hairpins. "Tsubaki!"

The fairy materialized from her hairpin and quickly cut through the cuffs binding Uryuu.

"Good." Uryuu stated. "Let's go."

"On it!" Orihime grinned, trying out the full-power version. "Tsubaki, Koten Zanshun! I reject!"

Tsubaki manifested into a small buzzsaw that cut through the bars with ease. He then repeated the process until a man sized hole was cut in the bars.

Uryuu pulled out the cut up parts of the bars, placing them slowly on the floor to not alert that maybe near. He then stepped out of the room, gesturing that Orihime do the same.

"Okay!" She whispered, trying not to wake the guards. "Where's-"

"So the ryoka are here?" A voice from down the corridor asked.

"Oh shit." Uryuu paled.

"Tsubaki!" Orihime quickly called out. "Koten Zanshun!"

Tsubaki quickly shot out at the one who spoke, nearly taking his head off.

"Woah!" Ikkaku yelped as he narrowly ducked under the attack. "Split-"

"Ikkaku, wait!" Yumichika called out, recognizing the situation. "The ryoka already got out on their own!"

"Oh." Ikkaku blinked. "That makes things a little easier."

"Easier?" Uryuu frowned, ready to fire a bow at a moment's notice. "Are they going to take us into questioning?"

"Wrong, Ryoka!" Ikkaku exclaimed. "We are here to bust you out!"

"...Come again?" Orihime tilted her head in confusion. "Why?"

"Our captain engaged in a riveting battle with a man by the name of Ichigo." Yumichika stated, grabbing the ryoka's attention. "And he would like to have another chance at him. He deemed that you guys would lead us straight to him, so here we are!"

"Really?!" Orihime replied. She wasn't entirely down with the thought of a captain deliberately gunning for Ichigo, but this was practically a free ride out of here and back to him with help on the way!

Uryuu, however, was much more suspicious. "How am I supposed to know this isn't a trick or something?"

"A trick?" Ikkaku exclaimed, sounding visibly insulted. "We're squad 11! We don't do tricks!"

"Besides," Yumichika added. "If we really are planning to drag you into questioning, wouldn't we have just said so considering you just got out of your prison cell and there are dozens, if not hundreds of shinigami in these barracks?"

"...Good point." Uryuu admitted. "But why on earth would your captain break rank like this?"

"Captain Kenpachi is the epitome of battle!" Yumichika explained. "He desires honorable fights with strong opponents over all else! Ichigo gave him the best fight he's had in decades, so he desires to battle with again to feel the thrill again, and possibly become stronger himself."

"I can still hear the captain's exhilaration as he gave us this mission." Ikkaku stated before speaking Kenpachi's words. "'I'm certain he's alive!' He said! 'Ichigo's alive and he's getting stronger even as we speak! I get the feeling that if we bust them out, I'll get to fight Ichigo again!"

Orihime frowned. As a pacifist, the thought of fighting people for fun seemed rather strange to her. But she wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth, especially with so much at stake.

"Okay." Uryuu stated. "If you really want to help, lead the way."

* * *

"Yah!" Ichigo roared as his blade met Zangetsu's, only for the sword to shatter, and Ichigo himself to get knocked back and nearly onto his feet. "Fuck" He yelped.

" _ **King** **!**_ " Zangetsu roared. " ** _Is this the best performance you can muster?! Do you expect a captain to fall to such a weak swing!?_** "

"Of course not!" Ichigo roared back, grabbing another blade from the ground. "But I bet this could!"

Shinigami and Zanpakuto clashed in a manner all but one of the captains were intimately familiar with. A combination of instinct and experience guided the combatants as they dueled flickering across the battlefield as the duel waged on.

Ichigo had been getting used to his blades shattering every few seconds, being fast and agile enough to grab them before Zangetsu could capitalize on the times he was unarmed.

Although the trash talking was getting rather irritating.

" _ **These swords represent all of your flaws, King!"**_ Zangetsu taunted, throwing his hand around and showcasing all the blades surrounding the area. " ** _Just look at how much you suck!_** "

"Hey! You came from me, remember?" Ichigo shot back. "If these blades all represent my flaws, what does that make you?"

" _ **Point to you!**_ " Zangetsu laughed. " ** _But don't misjudge me. I was forged from the best parts of you, by you! You can't bear me with flawed blades, no matter how many of them you use!_** "

Ichigo scowled, knowing the spirit was right. The blades he was using weren't enough to do more than stall the raging Hollow Quincy Zanpakuto fusion gunning for him. And he couldn't waste anymore of his already limited time.

"But how do I find the real one?" Ichigo thought, frantically black Zangetsu's various attacks. "What would give me a- Oh wait!"

Ichigo's mind flickered back to when he got Zangetsu at the first place, when he found the by the color of the spirit ribbon. "No reason for that to work now!" He thought, leaping over a Getsuga Tensho. With no other plan in mind, Ichigo threw out his senses, checking each ribbon of every blade he for him, he quickly had to focus on Zangetsu's attacks before the ribbons.

" ** _King!_** " Zangetsu snarled, charging Ichigo with his blade stretched out as if to impale hkm6.

"Damn." Ichigo thought as he narrowly dodged the blade. "How do I get some distance with this guy? Let's try this!"

"Getsuga Tensho!" He roared, swinging his sword and blasting Zangetsu point blank.

Boom!

Ichigo leapt out of the smoke cloud with a cough, his clothes singed from the explosion. "Hope that stopped him for long enough."

With time to spare, Ichigo took a deep breath and threw his senses out. With a sigh of effort, the spirit ribbons of the world became clear to him. He looked around and saw the ribbons of the blades around him. Most were short and clear, showing no power. But some were long and red, other were black, and still others had blue.

"Crap!" Ichigo scowled, looking other the many different colors. He knew shinigami were red, could confer that hollows were black, and with the process of elimination could infer quinces were blue. "Which one was the true one? "

" _ **Getsuga Tensho!**_ " A voice roared out as a black sword beam soared out.

"Shit! Outta time!" Ichigo growled, throwing caution to the wind and grabbing a sword with a red ribbon. And not a second too soon, as Zangetsu was right on him as he turned.

The two swords clashed with a louder clang than any before. The sword Ichigo wielded pulsed with power in tune with Zangetsu's.

" _ **Wow, King! Looks like you found one of the stronger blades!**_ " Zangetsu complimented.

Ichigo would've made a snappy comeback had the synapses not fired in his brain. "One of? Oh shi-"

" ** _Too bad it still isn't me._** " Zangetsu grinned as tore through that blade as well, albeit with more effort.

"Time!" Yoruichi stated, turning Zangetsu back into the Tenshintai. "Good progress, but not there yet. Lay down your sword. Day 1 is over."

"Oh." Ichigo frowned. "Dang."

"Don't be discouraged." Yoruichi relieved. "You made a terrifying amount of progress in one day. You'll likely pull it off tomorrow if the time is right."

"I'll have to." Ichigo thought. "I need to get to Byakuya's level ASAP." He then laid down his sword on the floor. "Sooo...what now?"

* * *

Standing in the Captain Assembly Hall, all of the captains, with the exception of Mayuri, began coming in and lining up in their customary in lines facing each other. Momo Hinamori, vice captain of the 5th division, stood her captain's place, as did Nanao Kuritsuchi and Yachiru for their respective captains.

"I call this meeting to order." Yamamoto declared. "Captain Unohana, report."

"Over 50% of squad 11 has been injured and sent to the barracks." Unohana explained. "However, most of the injuries are minimal and will take a day or two for full recovery at most."

"Captains Kenpachi and Mayuri?"

"Captain Kenpachi has suffered several grievous from his fight with the unspecified hollow. His chest and lower body are covered in scars, and various actual puncture wounds." Unohana stated. "His reaitsu and blood were both low, but nothing Kenpachi hasn't survived before. That said, this fight was easily in the top 5."

"Mayuri had been soundly defeated." Nemu piped in. "He was forced to resort to his self dissolving ability to avoid death. His bankai was split clean in half along with a good portion of his torso."

These descriptions somewhat unsettled the other captains in the room. Kenpachi and Mayuri were some of the most dangerous captains in history, if not the most well liked. Kenpachi only cared about fighting and will throw away a well thought out routine for a challenge. Mayuri on the other hand, was incredibly intelligent and prepared for nigh-on any possibility. The problem with him is that he holds no morals or self-restraint. But that didn't discount either of their power. For both of them to fall demonstrated a serious threat.

However, Byakuya had decided to add more fuel to the fire. "There's more. Barely a few hours ago, I encountered a Shiba clan member trying to free Rukia. And he was aided by Yoruichi, the flash goddess."

"...What?" Soifon asked, her voice a mix of outrage and excitement.

"She came in and saved the Shiba clan member." Ukitake added. "And admitted to the hollow running around the place. What's worse, she also admits that Urahara Kisuke is the mastermind of this little endeavor."

Yamamoto scowled as the situation grew even more out of proportion than he thought. The ryoka had been abnormally big issues already, let alone with two defecting captains assisting them.

"Wasn't Urahara experimenting with hollows when he was sentenced to death?" Soifon immediately jumped in, trying to get a full on man hunt on the man. "The hollow may be one of the ryoka invading. That may be how it has slipped past our notice for so long."

"It is very likely." Nemu chimed in. "The female ryoka had shown notable signs of hollowfication in the latter part of the battle with her and the Quincy."

"And you let them live?!" Hinamori snapped at Tousen.

"Forgive me," Tousen apologized. "I didn't sense any form of hollow reaitsu from either of the ryoka I encountered."

"Enough." Yamamoto declared. "Where are the ryoka now?"

"The Quincy and hollow girl are in captivity, waiting for interrogation." Gin chimed in. "As for everyone else? 'Fraid I have no idea."

* * *

"Aaah..." Ichigo sighed in relief, wounds healing in the hot spring. "This is the life."

"You said it." Ganju agreed, Chad giving a curt nod as well.

"Hey boys." A sultry voice echoed through the steam, jolting everyone upright. "Room for one more?"

The 3 teens looked at each other, anticipation and nervousness of different amounts in a eyes.

"I'm taking that as a yes." Yoruichi continued to everyone's alarm. "Here I come."

Alarmed and embarrassed squawks rang out from Ichigo, Ganju, and even the normally stoic Chad as a figure walked in. The squawks became louder as the figure came closer, revealing...Yoruichi in her cat form.

A silence rang out as the 3 ryoka stared at Yoruichi.

"Be honest." Yoruichi gave a trolling smirk very similar to Urahara's. "You're disappointed, aren't you?"

"...A little."

* * *

"The bastards could be anywhere right now." Gin shrugged.

"Soooo..." Yachiru drawled, clearly bored out of her skull if her playing with her hair and Zanpakuto was any indication. "What do we do about it?"

"What you can do about it," Soifon stated. "Is pull out your troops and go on standby. They seemed to have decided non lethal actions at first, but after Mayuri, Kenpachi, and Aizen, it's clear that sentiment has gone out the window."

"Kenpachi isn't going to like that." Yachiru warned, a frown on her face.

"Too bad." Soifon argued. She was not going to budge from this. "Kenpachi shouldn't have to satisfy his murder boner every damn day."

"Soifon is correct. Kenpachi's bloodlust cannot be allowed to override everyone else's common sense." Yamamoto stated, causing Yachiru to deflate with a pout. "That said, this plan only results in less casualties, it doesn't get anything done either. We will grill the ryoka for as much info on the other ryoka before putting them down before anyone has a chance of freeing them."

"Move up Rukia's execution as well." Byakuya suddenly chimed in.

"Byakuya?" Komamura asked.

"The mission of the ryoka is to stop Rukia's execution." Byakuya explained. "Multiple members have said so themselves. In addition, Yoruichi stated that they planned to train for a little under a week to stop us. However, if the execution was moved to the day after tomorrow, the ryoka would be forced to attack less prepared, making it easier to kill them."

Tousen frowned at the ruthless play. Such action would make it significantly harder for Ichigo to emerge victorious against Byakuya. And by extension, Aizen to obtain the Hōgyoku without suspicion. However, he couldn't think of a way to argue against it.

Ukitake was similarly distraught, albeit for different reasons. He was aware that the death of Byakuya's wife changed him for the worse, but was he so dead set on Rukia's death that he'd have it sped up for the sake of bait?

"Agreed." Yamamoto declared. "The execution will occur the day after tomorrow. All of you, stay vigilant and report all sightings of the ryoka. Meeting adjourned."

* * *

That morning.

"What do you mean the ryoka are _gone_?" A raging Yasochika roared at a random nurse.

"I said they managed to get out of captivity." The nurse stated, her panic notably more subdued. "They were ther last night, and in the morning all we found were a cut open gate with the handcuffs inside."

"Why wasn't anyone guarding the door?!"

"Most of the people in the hospital were either injured or healing the injured." The nurse stated. "There simply wasn't enough people to guard everyone."

"This is a travesty." Yasochika groaned. "Not even a hour into the day, and it already can't possibly get worse."

"What can't get worse?"

Both 4th squad members froze at the voice, heads slowly turning to Byakuya in horror.

Byakuya's eyes twitched in irritation, already having an idea of what happened. "These ryoka are increasingly becoming the biggest aggravation of my life."

* * *

Ichigo had quickly resumed his training in the morning, clashing with the merged Zangetsu spirit for dominance. Chad weren't doing nearly as extreme training. Chad was trying to fire more blasts of reaitsu from his armored arm. Ganju was merely making more trick stuff for the fight.

"KNOCK KNOCK, BITCHES!"

A large explosion rang out from the entrance of the grounds the ryoka were in, causing them to whip around to see it, weapons already at the ready. That is, until Ichigo recognized the voice.

"Renji?" Ichigo asked.

"Got it in one." The redhead shinigami smirked as he walked out of the smoke. "I needed a place to train my bankai."

"Anywhere." Ganju growled. "You could've gone _anywhere_. And you risked leading people here?!"

"Oi." Renji pouted. "This was the best places one no one knew about. Not my fault you were already here."

"Ichigo!" Another, far more familiar voice comes out from the smoke before running out herself.

"Orihime!" Ichigo called out in relief. "You're okay!"

"Also," Uryuu added as he walked out with Yumichika and Ikkaku.

"Who are they?" Chad asked, looking at the two shinigami by Uryuu's side.

"Hey," Ichigo's eyes widen in realization. "I fought these guys."

"You remember us." Ikkaku smirked. "That makes things easier."

"How did you all meet up?" Ganju asked.

"Ikkaku and Yumichika busted us out of prison on Kenpachi's orders." Orihime explained. "He apparently had a blast fighting you, and wanted to do it again."

"As for Renji," Uryuu added. "He busted out on his own soon after us wanting to save Rukia, and we bumped into each other mid breakout."

"Uryuu actually thought that he was going to bring them to the execution block with Rukia," Ikkaku exclaimed. "And we nearly had an epic fight."

"It's a good thing we didn't, as crazy as that sounds coming from us." Yumichika finished. "It might have attracted some attention if three seated members got into a brawl in the middle of the 4th division."

Ichigo processed the information with grin. "Sounds great! With all of us together, stopping Rukia's execution in a week will be too easy."

"About that," A baboon with a snake tail suddenly appeared behind Renji, presumably Zabimaru. "If you wanted to train for a week, I'm afraid Byakuya put a stop to that. "

"Manifestation." Yoruichi thought. "So he's getting close to bankai as Ichigo." Yoruichi then frowned. "Wait, did Byakuya do?"

"He had Yamamoto change the date of Rukia's execution." Orihime replied. "To noon tomorrow."

Yoruichi's went pale as she heard that information. " _Noon tomorrow?!_ Ichigo can't learn Bankai that fast!"

Renji blinked. "Ichigo's learning bankai? But he hasn't had...what am I talking about? The guy fought Kenpachi and put him in the hospital. Of course he's powerful enough to learn bankai. Fat lot of good learning it now will do now."

"What kind of talk is that?!" Ichigo roared, hurling his sword at Renji, who easily dodged it. He then turned to Yoruichi. "Yoruichi! You aren't going to give up on me are you?! You're the one that suggested this training! You can't quit on it now!"

"Ichigo, no!" Yoruichi tried to talk some reason into the teen. "What if tomorrow comes and you can't do bankai?!"

"Well then I'll just have to achieve bankai." Ichigo rebutted, picking up another sword and charging Zangetsu with it. "We've come too far to lose now! Getsuga Tensho!"

A large explosion rocked the chamber as Zangetsu cut apart the blast. " **Well said, King! Let's see you make good on those words.** "

The battle continued in earnest, as everyone looked on in awe and respect.

" **Damn, we sure know how to pick em, do we?** " Shun Shun Rikka chuckled. Orihime merely nodded with a blush.

"Wow," Yumichika gaped. "I know that the whole reason they moved up the date was to make Ichigo didn't get too strong before the execution, but I think that ship's already sailed."

"No kidding." Ikkaku blinked, before donning a savage grin. "You think we'll have enough time to fight it out before the execution starts?"

Uryuu rolled his eyes. " _Shinigami._ "

* * *

Rukia layed on her bed, all but waiting for when her life would end.

"So tomorrow, I die." She thought. "...I wonder if before the execution, it would be worth begging for Ichigo and everyone to be left to the world of the living. I am a Kuchiki after all. Brother hasn't taken the clan name away from me yet, at least I think. They could allow it."

A throb in her chest registered to her. "That's been happening for a while now." She frowned. Whenever she had felt particularly extreme emotions as of late, which had been most of the time admittedly, her chest started to throb. Not as if it had been in pain, but as if her heartbeat was rising more than it should. No one noticed it in her checkup, and the sensation had been negligible and easy to ignore at first, so she merely thought it was her imagination or something.

But after Ichigo and his friends came crashing down it had dredged up in spades, and it was only getting stronger.

Unbeknownst to the young girl, the throbbing in her chest was the Hōgyoku, planted in a reaitsu draining gigai and given to Rukia, with the intention of draining her of her power along with the sphere.

A plan that might've worked had Rukia's burgeoning feeling for Ichigo not gotten in this way. The Hōgyoku was made to breakdown the barrier between shinigami and hollows. But a prerequisite of this would be to tune into one's wishes. Something all users of reaitsu had, Shinigami, Hollow, or Quincy was that their psyche influenced them powers. Desire and resolve played a part in a shinigami's growth almost as much as Zanjustu. After all, wielding a Zanpakuto properly required knowing the blade, and by extension yourself incredibly intimately.

At first, Rukia's subconscious connection of Ichigo to Kaien and subsequent desire to keep him safe had only been enough to stall the reaitsu draining gigai, but the Seki-Seki made Shrine of Penitence had stopped even that. Until Ichigo and his friends fell from the sky with a blast of hollow reaitsu that shook all of Seireitei. For the briefest of moments, the whole of Seireitei, even the reiatsu proof Seki-Seki, was tainted with Ichigo's reiatsu. It dispersed into nothing rather quickly, in everywhere but Rukia's cell. The Hōgyoku felt the power and latched on to it, it and Rukia's recognizing it with Ichigo.

And with a boost offered by Rukia's reluctant hope, it had built up strength. It had continued to grow. And similar to a muscle, constantly exercised in a slow and steady manner day and night without cease. And soon, like how Rukia's power had given Ichigo his first taste of shinigami power, Ichigo's had given Rukia a pick me up she never knew she needed.


End file.
